12 sides of L
by Viciada desde 2005
Summary: After a freak accident, the team and Raito find themselves in a place no human should ever have been before. In the mind of the greatest detective, L. LxRaito
1. Prolog

12 sides of L

Summary: after a freak accident the team and Raito find themselves in a place no human should ever be: in the mind of the greatest detective, L. They were about to explore places no one ever should and discover thing they wished they didn't find. They are going on a bumpy ride.

Disclaimer: Don't sue! I don't own any of the characters: L, Raito, Watari, Yagami Soichiro, Matsuda, Aizawa and Mogi. Nor Death Note. The rest is all Mine.

Prolog

"Tell me why we're here again?" Raito huffed. Arms crossed over his chest, he was leaning up against the wall. He and Ryuzaki were in a room in what he suspected was five stories underground.

"Well, Raito-kun, that last thunder storm seems to have blown up the electrical connections in the power grid and we have to fix it if we wish to continue the investigation. That is unless, of course, Raito-kun has night vision and does not mind working without the use of technology…" came the detective's reply from his crouched down position on the floor.

The insomniac was in his usual crouch in front of, what Raito suspected, was the power grid and one of the generators for the whole building. He had a toolbox beside him and was picking through it with interest using his two-finger grip. His free hand has his thumb pressed to his lip. Smoke was coming out of both machines.

"Besides, the main generator seems to have suffered as well. The minor ones are for the computers, electric doors, elevators and emergency lights. They are to be used only to save any work and when necessary. We hardly can work in these conditions." Dragging his eyes away from a spanner he gave Raito an innocent look.

"Doesn't Raito-kun wish to continue the investigation?" The boy sighed, pushing his fingers through his chestnut hair. He always had to play the Kira card, didn't he?

"Of course Ryuzaki, it's just, shouldn't you call a professional for this kind of thing?" The boy said hopefully. He wanted to be anywhere other than the small cramped room with only emergency lights for illumination.

L turned his attention back to the open power grid. "Yes Raito-kun, let's bring in an electrician to come into the top secret investigation headquarters of the most wanted murderer in history. He should be here between today and Thursday to fix a simple electrical problem two geniuses can't handle." Raito gritted his teeth at the man's monotone jab. L continued to fiddle with the power grid.

"Moreover Raito-kun, I should be fine as long as no one turns on the current while I work. Having 7000 volts of electricity coursing through one's body is not a pleasant way to die." The detective murmured as a clinking noise was heard once more. Raito's eyes looked over at the large hand switch on the wall; something that looked like it should belong in a Frankenstein movie and not an investigation building. He sighed, crossing his arms again.

"Fine then. But what are they doing here?" Ratio gestured to the silent team on the other side of the room next to the only answered, "Well, for one thing Ryuzaki asked for us to be here and for another, with the power out we can't work anyway." The man said with a shrug.

L poked his head from out behind the grid. "I would also like to have eyewitnesses if Raito-kun decided to murder me now. Seeing as there are very limited cameras running at the moment." With that said, L proceeded to stick his head into the grid once more.

Raito glared at the hunched man's back for a while. Then he rolled his eyes and went back to staring at the wall. The room was drowned with awkward silence, only cut by the sifting of bodies, clicking from L's work and humming of the emergency lights.

About ten minutes passed before the silence was broken by L's soft voice. "I should be done soon. Someone should stand by the main switch and turn it on at my command."

Always eager to help (and dying to do something), Matsuda rushed over to the main switch. Unfortunately the young clumsy police officer stumbled over his own two feet in his haste before reaching his destination. Falling, the man tried catching himself before hitting the ground. He grabbed the only thing he could reach to stop his fall.

The main switch.

The team could only watch in horror.

There was a loud humming noise. All heads whipped to the two chained men. What wasn't hidden of L's body by the grid was shaking. Hissing sounds were heard coming from the machines in the room. Raito was also shaking. Eyes rolled to the back of his head and his body was giving violent jolts every few seconds. The current passed through the handcuffs both L and Raito wore.

In complete panic at the sight of his son, Soichiro throw logic to the wind and rushed over to his only son with a cry of "RAITO!" In a panic of their own, Aizawa and Mogi hastily followed the chief of police, trying to stop him. Matsuda, who still lay on the floor, threw himself at the chief's legs.

The thought of tuning the power off crossed no one's mind.

It all happened at the same time. The chief of police managed to grab his son's hand, and at the same time Aizawa and Mogi managed to clasp their heavy hands of either of the man's shoulders just as Matsuda got hold of the man's legs.

Now all seven men were caught in a chain of electric current, all bodies shaking with the powerful voltage coursing through them.

The lights in the room started blinking. Many popping sounds came from the grid before…

BOOOOOOM!

An explosion. Then, darkness.


	2. Yellow

A/N this took longer then expected…(I blame it all on my wonderful beta) well here you go! Thank you for the reviews! Keep them coming!

Comment from my Beta: "follow the yellow brick road, tralalala!"

**Yellow**

**The sand**

Every limb felt heavy. Raito started regaining awareness. It felt like he was under a pile of rocks. He moved his hand, clenching his fist, only to feel a rough texture against his fingers, digging under his nails. That didn't feel like hard concrete floor… confused, Raito slowly opened his eyes, only to close them against the harsh white light beating down on him.

With a groan, the boy rolled over onto his back before sitting up very slowly, and rubbing his head. He tried opening his eyes again only to be greeted with a surprising sight.

Sand. White sand, with a tint of yellow, covered everything. Nothing but mountains and slopes of white powder. You couldn't even distinguish the sky from the ground. For above the sand there was nothing. It was like thick mist was covering every thing. You could go on forever or fall of a cliff with out knowing.

Raito lifted a fist full of sand. It was very light and the grains where small, sparkling when light hit them. He let them slip through his finger only leaving a few grains in his hand. He rolled them between his fingers, but flinched when one of them cut his finger. The boy frowned at the paper-thin cut that bleed a little. Where did the head quarters go? Feeling slightly light headed (and rather annoyed at the fact that he didn't wake up in the same place he had fallen unconscious) he tried to remember what happened. Only to be hit by the memory of Matsuda. He growled. This wouldn't have happened if Ryuzaki hadn't been so stubborn! He could have been killed, both of them could! Momentarily forgetting the strange environment, he turned around to start a fight with said man. Only to discover he was not there. Not even the chain was around his wrist. All irritation melted away very quickly to give way to worry and a slight panic.

That's when he finally notetsed that he could hear talking. Well, more like shouting.

"-That must have been the stupidest and most life threatening thing you ever done! You could have killed us all! Matsuda that was-" that was Aizawa's voice. Raito blinked before getting up and dusting himself off. Turning to follow Aizawa's screams. Determined to find out what happened, where he was and where was the detective he was suppose to be chained to.

He claimed the sand dune, looking down below. Aizawa and Matsuda were both up, the Afro haired man was red in the face with the force of his screams, gesturing madly with his hands. Matsuda had his head hung and his knuckles pushing up into his eyes, the poor man seemed in enough distress with out the other cop's yelling. Mogi was slowly getting up and his father was lying on his side on the ground.

Raito slid down the sand dune to meet them. Aizawa stopped yelling at the sight of the boy.

"Raito!" the hot headed man exclaimed. Mogi paused in helping Soichiro up. Soichiro head snapped around to Raito and he quickly scrambled to his feet (as well as he could at his age), accepting Mogi's help. The team all rushed over to the boy bombarding him with questions on this health.

"You're not hurt, are you son?" his father.

"Can you feel everything?" Aizawa.

"How many fingers am I holding up?" Mogi.

"I'M SOOOOO SORRY! PLEASE FORGIVE ME RAITO!" Matsuda.

"Son, are you feeling all right?"

"I WAS ONLY TIRING TO HELP-"

His arm was pinched "did you feel that?"

"-BUT I S-SLIPED AND, OH I'M SOOO SORRY!"

"Son! Answer me!"

"MOTHER ALWAYS TOLD ME I WAS TO CLUMSY TO BE COP! BUT DID I LISTEN! NOOOO!"

Having enough of all the panicking and questioning on his health, Raito tried to get their attention. "Guy, GUYS, GUYS!" the Task Force all snapped there mouths shut. Raito sighed. "I'm all right, ok? See" he lifted his arms to emphasize his point. The team seemed to sage slightly, relieved "Do any of you know where we are? Or where Ryuzaki is? " He presented his bare wrist. Looking hopeful.

The Task Force seemed surprised, apparently only now noticing the lack of wild haired detective. They then looked around, apparently also only now noticing the change in scenery.

"Where are we?" Matsuda asked spinning in place to have a better look.

"I was wondering that my self. Does any one remember how we got here?" Mogi said, lifting his large hand to rub the back of his head. There was a murmur of 'no'.

"Maybe we died?" Matsuda piped up. All men turned to glare at him.

"Don't even joke Matsuda, don't even joke." Aizawa hissed

"Well, it is a possibility." Mogi said quietly.

As the team started arguing over their own existence (and possible death) Raito's mind was realigning. He looked at all the possibilities of why they where there. Thinking especially about the absence of the detective. Another test? One more try to see if they where ware serious in there conviction in catching Kira? If so, why did the detective leave him unguarded? He was the main suspect after all. Where were the cameras? No. For some reason he had a feeling this had nothing to do with the man's paranoia. Still, if it wasn't L, then who? And where was the damn man!

If there was one thing that angered him more then the baggy clothe man, it was not knowing what was happening. He also couldn't seem to get the little ball of fear to stop forming in his stomach over the fact that the man wasn't there attached to his wrist. Was it because he didn't know where the man was and what he was scheming? Or maybe it was genuine concern over the strange man's wellbeing, he wasn't sure. He hoped it was the first one.

The chestnut hair boy's train of thought was interrupted by a small noise. At first Raito chucked it up to being the other men bickering and content to ignore it, going back to his previous line of thought. But it started getting louder and louder. Somewhat like a mosquito in ones ear.

Irritated, he twisted his neck around looking for that petulant sound.

"Do any of you hear that?" the boy asked, eyes still scanning the landscape.

The Task Force halted all of their discussion at the unexpected question. They all stopped and listened. Indeed, there was a faint sound. That was getting louder. It sounded… it sounded…. like whooping?

At that moment there was a burst of sand out from the sand dune behind the Task Force and a figure soared above their heads.

" Whoohoo! Look out down below!" the team and Raito managed to dive out of the way just in time not to be crushed as whoever it was crashed down into the sand.

That is, of course, every one except for poor Matsuda, who didn't manage to make it out of the way in time.

Whoever it was fell to the ground. The (now visible) sand-board dug into the sand, sending its driver off for trip.

Said person, unfortunately, collided with Matsuda.

The two bodies slammed together and rolled across the sand like a wheel of a car after an accident. They then hit a sand hill and lay in a heap. Sand and dust flying everywhere.

The team carefully got up and slowly came closer to the cloud of dust, trying to see the damage done.

The stranger's body twitched before he sprung to his feet pumping his fists in the air. "Oh yeah! Now that was a ride!" the man whooped before cracking his back. "No broken boned this time." The man then turaed to the prone form of Matsuda. "hay, are you ok there buddy?" the man asked kindly, in a very familiar voice, offering his hand to the cop. Raito's eye widened, no, it couldn't be… not with that attitude…

"Sorry about that. There's usually no one around these parts."

The young man groaned before accepting the offered hand. " No, it all right no harm-" Matsuda cut him self off after getting up and facing the man. His eyes widened.

"Ryuzaki?!" The younger cop gasped.

"What" Aizawa interrupted.

The man turned around revealing himself. He was a carbon copy of L. from the mop of black hair on his head to his bare feet. The only difference was the thick black bracelets on ether wrists and a very battered and roughed up sunshine yellow 3/4 shirt. Then there were his eyes. The man's eyes were not the same dark colored as L's, the man had very noticeable yellow eyes, the same color of his shirt.

That, and the fact that the man had the biggest, most brightest, smile on his face. Something no one could ever begin to imagine being on the original L's face.

Raito found it rather disturbing to see such a thing on Ryuzaki's face. Not that it looked bad… but L's biggest smile was a twitch of the lip or an up quirk of the corners of his mouth. It looked… very out of place on the normally stone cold man.

This Ryuzaki look-a-like let out a laugh. " Not quite, but yes!" the weird man then walked over to his (broken) board. Ignoring the eyes burning holes in his bright t-shirt. Picking up a piece of the board, in a two finger grip, Raito had to lift an eyebrow at the site of its print on it.

Sweets, from wrapped candies, to cakes, to lollipops and ice cream. The whole bottom of the 'surf board' was imprinted with sweets. That could be something the sweet-lover would buy... Still, the way the man carried him self was completely different.

"What do you mean by 'not quite'?" Soichiro inquired, suspicion and confusion written all over his face.

The yellow eyed man turned the pieces of his board in his hand, before shrugging his shoulders and throwing them out. Seemly not caring for them at all. He then turned his attention to the group of man who were eying him waring.

"Let me answer your question with one of my own. Do you," he pointed at Soichiro. "Know where you are?" the yellow-eyed man pressed his thumb to his bottom lip. Making him look even more like L.

"No, in fact, we don't. We were discussing it before you crashed in and almost crushed us all!" Aizawa growled out.

The man took his thumb from his mouth and jumped back with an even bigger smile (if possible) then before. "Well then Aizawa, gentleman, welcome to the mind of the three greatest detectives in the world!" the man spread out his arms gesturing around him.

"Wait! Did you say mind? What do you mean by mind!" Matsuda squeaked. Have joined the other at some point, but the energetic man ignored him.

"And I, dear sirs, am one of L's personalities. Happiness. However you may call me Joy if you so wish." 'Happiness' announced.

…Silence.

Wind blew by.

"I must be in a coma. That the only logical explanation! That or the electricity roasted all my brain cells and I am now in a hospital bed having delusions!" Aizawa cried, throwing his hands in the air and then ranting under his breath on how he finally cracked under the pressure of the Kira case.

Raito silently agreed with the man, only wondering if it wasn't he who had finally cracked. Especially with L's constant accusations, he wouldn't be surprised. Maybe that electric curreat really did mess with his head…

"Ah, but it's not my dear police man! All you see is nothing but reality! Who are you to criticize this reality? You are working on a case; in which criminals are killed by name and face. In a universe with Shinigami! I should ask _you_ why you question the strange and the supernatural, when you yourself are faced daily with things that are only suppose to live in fiction on a day to day basis." Happiness exclaimed.

Raito frowned. This man (personality) did have a point. He knew he was accepting this rather easily, but as he looked at what seemed to be almost an artificial scenery he found it easer to accept. For some reason everything here looked so cold and mechanical. The white-blinding-light illuminating no sky, but no wall either, there was just nothing above the sand. Then there was the sand; it hardly looked like sand, and the cut on his finger… He couldn't help but ask.

" If what you say is true, why is this place so bare? This hardly looks like the mind of a genius." The policeman gave him an unbelieving look, as if to say 'are you really going with this?' He almost fell backwards when 'Happiness' appeared right in front of his face.

"Ha-ha Raito-kun! There are many a reason for that! For one, this is not sand but glass we stand on! Every grain, every speck represents a thought, an idea, an ideal from the past." Happiness said with an awe-inspiring voice. He crouched down and scooped some 'sand' in his hands, then let it slip between his fingers. Much like Raito did before. At this the team looked around in wonder. Every grain was an idea?

"Moreover, not everything is what it seems." At this, Happiness gave Raito a look. Making the boy glare at the insinuation. "Even me. This whole places is but a metaphor, a representation of the mind. An interpretation. A way to make the most powerful weapon any creature could ever possess understandable. There is more beneath the surface then what you think you see." Happiness voice got quieter and quieter while the team got closer and closer. Even Raito was captivated.

The yellow eyed man then began brushing the sand with the side of one hand. As he brushed, it started revealing solid flat ground. Beneath the sand was a thick glass surfers, which clearly exposed its insides. Gears, pipes and wires, like looking at a watch at steady work. Constantly moving. There were these red wires, that looked like thin long tubes, with red liquid going though it. The red wires were straight, only bending in angler occasionally criss-crossing over each other.

The men were fascinated at the sight. Happiness smiled at the awed looked on their faces.

"That, you could say, are the internal workings of this universe. What it runs on." Happiness smirked, covering up the patch of reviled glass getting up. "Moreover, gentlemen, we are at the outskirts of town. You haven't seen the city yet." That said, Happiness, started claiming the sand dune. The task force and Raito with no other choice follow. Processing what they just heard in there heads.

"It is all quite fascinating, but how do we get out of Ryuzaki's head and back to the non-representative world?" Soichiro inquired. Really, he wished for nothing more then to be back in a world he could understand. He felt like they were invading the privacy of a very privet and secretive man. That is, if this wasn't some morpheme induces fantasia.

Raito didn't see this situation as his father did. Figuring out the most mysteries (and strangest) man on the face of the planet sounded very appealing to him. The detective was a book with blank pages to the boy. No matter how hard he stared or how many angels he looked from, the results came out the same. Nothing. You just couldn't read blank pages. However, now he had the chance to read the invisible in he would. It was just so incredibly tempting… seeing the man's inner most deeps thoughts come to life. He could learn so much. He didn't even begin to image the things the 3 best detectives saw in his lifetime… finding all his weakness. Raito stopped dead in his traces at the late thought. Where did that come from? The thought might have uneven him but he just pushed it to the back of his head. He concentrated on the possibilities of exploring such a brilliant mind.

Unfortunately being stuck in said brilliant mind didn't sound all that appealing.

At the older Yagami's question on the escape, Happiness stopped, making the Task Force to stop with him. He turned around. "Humm, that's a good question." The yellow eyed man said, biting his thumbnail in deep thought.

Happiness then looked at them, the team leaned forward, awaiting his answer. "I have no idea." The man then gave a small in barest smile. The team stumble back slightly, as if hit by a physical blow.  
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU HAVE NO IDEA? AREN'T YOU SUPPOSED TO BE A GOD DAMN GENIUS!" Aizawa yelled.

Happiness lost his smile, his eyes narrowed. "I would appreciate if you contained your temper Aizawa-san. As I have mentioned before I am but one side of L, and that is not logical side. I would also appreciate it if restrained your outbursts to when I finished with my sentence." Happiness said monotonously, with a cold edge. Actually acting like L instead of only looking like him.

The poor cop stumbled, taken completely off grade by the change in attitude by the so carefree personality. "I-I am sorry, it's just that, hmm…" Happens lifted his hand before a smile broke his faced.

"Ahh, its all right, I'm just messing with you! I know your just disorientated by being thrown into a completely new environment so suddenly. And all you want to do is go back to your own reality where things make sense to you. I'm pretty sure this scenario looks quite ridicules but I am sorry to inform you it is absolutely true." With that said, the yellow eyed man turned on his heal and started up the dune again, living 5 dumb fooled men behind.

When reaching the peck of the dune he turned back to looking down at the stunned faces of the policemen and genius with a grin.

"Well, come on then. Are you going to sit there gawking at me all day, or are you coming? I may have no clue at to how to get out of this but that doesn't mean I don't know some one who does!" Happiness called out, grin still in places, hands on his hips.

Raito was in a dazes. Every thing about the man was uneasy. The smile he always wore looked completely out of place on the very familiar face of the expressionless detective. Every thing the man did throw the team and Raito off grade, because of how completely out of character he was. Even if this was L's 'happy' side, the boy still couldn't get use to the smiles and laughter. He felt angry at the idea of losing control that easily. Still, like L himself said, he blamed every thing on the complete change in realities to a places even a genius couldn't comprehend. The human minds were complex in themselves, a genius mind would be even worse. However L's mind…. he shivered at the prospect.

Raito awoke of his daze just in time to fallow the team up the dune. Still trying to imagining the things they would encounter in their little adventure. Maybe he would find something useful or uncover a bite of the mystery that was the detective L. at the prospect of finding out what made the sweet loving man tick, the idea of being in such a place didn't look that bad… almost didn't look that bad.

"Ryuzaki, if you don't mined me asking who exactly are we going to look for and where are we going to find them?" Soichiro grunted out as he struggled to climb the mouton of sand.

"Why don't you see for your selves!" the messy haired man said, when the group got up to the top. Arms going up in an arch then point down at something in the distance.

Raito looked up from helping his father up the unstable sand and almost gasped.

Miles away there was a city. A glass city. Every building was made entirely out of glass. The white light that bathed them made the slick surface glistened a rainbow of color. The buildings were enormous sky scrapers, littering the whole city.

The men didn't know what to say at the breath taking sight.

"That, gentlemen, is glass city. And we are going to find the only people in this reality that could help us. Logic and Reasoning."


	3. Orange

WOW, this thing is gigantic! More than 5000 words! Be afraid! Be very afraid!!! Ohhhh… yah –Dies**-** my poor fingers… my poor brain. Sorry for the wait, my beta left me and I had to do this all by myself… not fun. Plus if I'm alive by the end of the week I'll be happy, SO. MANY. TESTS! Why education system!? WHY!

Some of you may have noticed the LxRaito sign…. Yah, the paring will be there and it will start to become more apparent, but! The story will not circle around that, sorry. However, since it will become more apparent soon, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW!

**After many a review telling me this chapter needed a beta and a serious spelling makeover it happened! You should all thank my beta! This chapter must have been hell. All better now! YAY!**

**Chapter 3 now edited!**

Orange

Glass city

If there was one thing the team could agree on about Matsuda, it was that the man's cheerful attitude and friendly personality made it easy for people to open up to. The man knew how to make small talk. He always got scared victims, clammed-up eyewitnesses, and paranoid men to trust him, just by being himself. Maybe that's why he managed to stay on the Force for so long…

So it came as no surprise that during their long walk in the desert, out of the six men, his voice was the only one to break the silence.

"Uh, so… why were you out here anyway? There's not exactly much to do out here." His question was directed at the hunched over man, with the permanent smile on his face.

Happiness shrugged. "There really isn't much to do around here. That is, when the body is unconscious of course. It can get very boring." He looked at Matsuda out of the corner of his eye. "Sand surfing is the most entertainment I can get at times like these."

"Oh…" Matsuda didn't seem satisfied with that answer. He looked around to find something else to talk about. Unfortunately, he was only met with sand. So he looked at the man in the bright yellow shirt. Once again noticed the black straps he wore around his wrists. They were big, at lest four fingers' width and the band was actually rectangular pads sewn together. They didn't look all that comfortable.

"Hey, why do you wear those? Those bracelets don't look very comfortable." Matsuda pointed out. At the comment, the personality looked down his arm, then lifted it up and twisted it in front of his nose. He then turned to Matsuda.

"No, you're right, they don't look too comfortable, do they?" He started to pull at the bracelet, unclasping the five little hooks not visible before. "That's because it isn't a bracelet. These are weights. They were designed to _be _heavy and not comfortable."

Happiness lifted the weight from his wrist, signaling Matsuda to open his hands to receive it. The man did so obediently, cupping both hands together waiting for it to be dropped inside. However, when the weights did fall into his open hands, the young cop almost toppled over. Hands pulled downwards, strained.

"What is in this!? I can hardly keep myself up!" Matsuda grunted through gritted teeth. Aizawa, who up until then had been hanging back, watching with the rest of the team, took a step forward.

"Oh, don't be ridiculous Matsuda. Here, let me have it." Aizawa extended his arm going for the bracelet /weight and snatched it out of the young man's hand. Unfortunately the Afro-haired man miscalculated, and ended up tipping over, hands trapped under the stupidly heavy weight of the band.

"Dear God! What is this?!" The man gritted out, managing to slide his fingers from under the black band. He rubbed them, nursing them close to his chest. Happiness bent down and simply picked up the little devilish thing; no heaving or struggling. He then strapped it back on his wrist turning his head back up only to be meet with blank stares.

"What? I've been using these things for years, of course I can pick them up." Happiness said nonchalantly.

"Why do you even wear them?" Mogi asked.

Before the personality could even open his mouth Raito cut him off.

"It is because you are restrained, aren't you?" All the men turned to the boy. "It's to symbolize how little you actually are able to participate in Ryuzaki's daily life, isn't it?" Raito stared at the personality, waiting.

Happiness gave a small smile, head turned slightly. "My my, now I can see why they call you a genius." There was a tone of sarcasm in his voice. He then lifted his pant leg to show the same bands around his ankles. "Yes, unfortunately, even the best detective in the world has to sacrifice something. In this case it had to be us." The personality let the fabric drop back down into place. "Emotions don't have a place in our line of work. I got off lightly. You will notice very quickly who is just restrained and who I locked down." The yellow-eyed man's smile was small and could hardly be called happy at all.

The team shifted uncomfortably at the sudden damp mood. Raito continued to stare Happiness down.

"Hmm. Is it only me or are all of you feeling this funky mood? This is depressing me. Let's go, standing here isn't getting any of you where you want to go." With these simple words the tension in the air was disintegrated and Happiness started strolling off to the city. The Team followed at a much slower pace. This time Matsuda kept his mouth shut.

No one knew how long the trip was, well the team didn't. There really wasn't a sense of time in this universe and the sand seemed endless. Raito's mind was wondering about everything that had happened since he had woken up. He wondered what else they would find out from the detective. It was just now hitting the boy how much of a vulnerable position this actually put the man in. For the first time he had a feeling that he might find something out he did not _want_ to find out. The idea of not wanting to know what made the detective tick, to him, was simply preposterous. But he couldn't help but think that by the end of this, he might discover he had bit off more than he could chew. There were just some things no one should know. Period.

His eyes wandered once more over to Happiness. He had noticed, after the man took off his weight, that the personality was actually incredibly thin--thinner than the original. Raito could almost see the bone through his skin. The man was actually very malnourished; he wondered if that was part of the fact that he didn't take great part in L's life, so he just withered away to the point of looking skeletal. Happiness turned his head at that point, noticing Raito looking at him and smiled his smile that split his face in half. The smiles still bothered Raito a lot. He rolled his shoulder deciding it was enough time thinking about that subject.

He turned his attention to the glass city, that was quickly approached. It really was a beautiful and breath-taking sight. It was something that could never exist in the real world or be reproduced in any way. As they got closer they could see that the buildings were just like the glass floor underneath the sand. The inside of the walls were filled with cogs, wires, nuts and bolts. Square openings were in the wall of machinery to simulate windows. The colors reflecting off the surface made them look liquid-like. Raito was starting to have to crane his neck backwards to try and see the top.

However, it didn't mater that it was an astonishing view to look at, it was still cold and lifeless. All was artificial, with no plant life in sight. It really did reflect the detective.

The long walk finally paid off as they arrived at the border of town, where the sand stopped to make way for the glass floor and white marble roads. Happiness turned around, lifting his arms over his head in a Ta-Da stand. The Task Force all had their heads thrown back looking up at the impressive glass skyscrapers.

"Well, here we are gentlemen! Now before we set foot in the city you'd better listen and listen well." Happiness' tone dropped, leaving no space for ignorance. He had all of their undivided attention.

"What we are now about to enter is a very dangerous place if you are not familiar with its structure, so keep on guard at all times and always listen to what I say. This a complete maze and you will get hopelessly lost if you separate from the group. If that happens, we may take up to hours, to days, just to find you so I recommend that you don't do it. Now, if that were to happen scream, swallow your pride and scream, so we will be able to find you." At this, the yellow-eyed man gave a pointed look to all the present men individually.

He continued, "our destination is the Main Hall where we will find Logic and Reason, because God knows they don't go anywhere else…" The last part was said under his breath but all present heard him. "To get there we will have to first go through People's Plaza, it and the Hall are the only stable ground in the city."

"What do you mean by 'only stable ground'?" Matsuda squeaked, not liking the sound of that at all.

"That will be self-explanatory. Right now this is very important. Only go into the buildings if you are with me. And I can't reinforce this enough, stay, togetherrrrr." Happiness elongated together for emphasis. His face managed to stay straight for a minute before his mouth split open and he revealed all his teeth. "Good? Good. Now, let's have an adventure!" With that said the energetic man spun around again and skipped to the city, leaving the Team to catch up to him, and Raito wondering if a personality could be bipolar.

The moment the chestnut haired boy set foot in the city, the change in temperature was amazing. It didn't mater that the white sun's rays were beating down on the city, it was like stepping into snow on a sunny day. Raito rubbed his arms. He walked after the Team. As he walked by, he couldn't help but trail his fingers over the glass of one of the buildings. Beneath his fingers the glass hummed, vibrating from the constant work of the machinery within it.

The personality was right. The buildings were set up in such a way that the whole city was full of twists, turns and many dead ends. It was a miracle that the man knew where he was going, that is, if he knew where he was going…

The Team walked awhile, Happiness humming some song to break some of the silence. "Now, can you tell us why this place is so dangerous? Other then the chance of getting hypothermia…" Aizawa grumbled; he never was a man of cold weather, or being left in the dark.

"Well, first think where we are and then ask that question. But really, the real reason that this place is so dang-" the man's sentence was cut in half by the sound of a siren, it sounded like a fire truck. The sound surprised everyone, causing them to jump three feet in the air before covering their ears.

"What the hell is that!? What's happening?" Raito had to scream over the noise.

"That, is not a good sign!" Happiness yelled back.

"Yeah! I kinda figured that out on my own!"

Then it was gone. As suddenly as it started it disappeared. The Team uncovered their ears slowly; looking around, trying to find where the siren had came from.

Happiness was turning in every direction, eying every building. He then started pushing them to the center of the street.

"I demand that you tell us what is happening right now!" Soichiro was losing his patience very quickly.

"No time! Just brace yourselves!" As the words came out of Happiness' mouth; the ground started shaking once again.

A cracking noise was heard all around the city, and for a heart-stopping moment; Raito thought the glass under them was going to crack, swallowing them into an abyss. However, that wasn't the case. The cracking sound came from a building nearby. Enormous fissures were coursing up the building, giant pieces of glass were breaking off and falling to the ground, causing an earthquake to happen. The sounds were just like that of trees falling to the ground. The mechanical insides were crumbling down, a particularly large gear fell managing to shake the ground to the extent of knocking most of the men off their feet. The only ones still able to stand were Raito and Mogi.

When the building was completely gone, the sounds left were the rugged breathing from the six men.

"What the hell just happened?!" Aizawa breathed out, trying (and failing) to get back to his feet.

"Well, remember that the sand out there is actually grains of glass right? _That_ is how all of it got there. These buildings are the main ideas, ideals, thoughts and beliefs. So as the ideas change, so do the buildings. But when one idea is replaced or overthrown…" Happiness trailed off turning his head upwards, the rest followed suit.

Above their heads was a trail of dust flying over towards the space where the destroyed building was. Well, at first it looked like dust but in fact it was the sand from the outer area of town. Vibrations were felt and the men turned in time to see the gears arrange themselves into a new formation. The sand fell around them and changed into smooth glass. This was something Raito was sure he would never be able to see recreated in real life.

"A new one is reconstructed with old beliefs. However, we are not safe yet." The yellow-eyed man looked around. "There is sure to be a second bell. So be prepared, if it rings we will have to take cover immediately."

Raito was afraid to ask. "Why? What happens then…?"

Happiness pushed his lips out then clicked his tongue. "Well you know how when you formulate a new idea you reorganize your thoughts around it so it makes sense?" Happiness said, looking a bit hesitant.

Oh, this didn't sound good. It didn't sound good at all…

"And how would that happen here?" Matsuda gulped.

Once more before anything else could be said the conversation was interrupted by another siren. This time it was a beeping sound, just as loud as the last one. The team all covered their ears again looking at the cheerful man for guidance.

"INTO THAT BUILDING NOW!" Happiness hollered, running to a nearby building. The Team followed, hot on his heels. The ground started shaking once again, but this time the marble road _was_ actually cracking under their feet, making it incredibly difficult to keep balance.

The man slammed his body against the glass door making it burst open and shatter upon impact with the wall. The rest managed to stumble after him, Matsuda tripping and falling to the floor.

"Quick! Grab something stable!" Happiness yelled over the rumbling and crashing.

The Team didn't waste time questioning and grabbed on to anything they could. Raito managed to hold onto an exposed pipe. And at that moment the building give a violent lunge, knocking most of the men onto their knees. Raito shook in place, he turned to the window, only to see the other buildings go by. They were moving past… moving?!

"The building! The buildings are moving! Why are they moving? Why are we moving?!" Raito couldn't help shouting. This was just too much! He expected to find some things out of the ordinary, but this was insane!

"We can't be moving! We're in a building!" Aizawa cried out, voice booming over all other noise. He was viciously clutching a hook on the wall above him.

"Why do trees grow upwards? This is just how it is here! After an idea is broken it reconstructs. It is reorganizing the thoughts! Thus, the buildings are arranging themselves accordingly!" Happiness yelled brokenly as he was tossed around still holding on another pipe. Matsuda, unfortunately, had no such luck as to find something to hold to, and was rolling on the floor because of it.

"Could someone grab hold of Matsuda? I don't want him rolling out the door." Raito said, as the man slid too close to the open door for comfort.

The building screeched to the left violently, throwing everyone off-balance. Thankfully after hitting the floor Mogi managed to circle his arm around Matsuda's waist, preventing him from rolling outside.

Even though the buildings didn't go all that fast, they shook and jumped so much it was almost impossible to stay standing.

Not sure how long the raid was going to take, Raito wasn't too pleased. He was sure he was getting bruised from all the knocking around. It was starting to anger him considerably. His hands were getting sore and he was about to voice his inner-frustration when the building stopped so abruptly and without warning that it sent all those inside flying. They all landed in a pile in the middle. Fortunately for Raito, he landed on someone else instead of the hard glass ground.

"Raito-kun, as much as I enjoy your company and body heat, I would ask you to please remove your elbow from my abdomen and your rear from its close proximity to my face." The yellow-eyed personality wheezed out from under Raito.

Raito eyes widened, he noticed that, indeed, he had landed on the cheerful man and sprung up with a blush after noticing the awkward position. However, in his rush of getting up he forgot they had all fallen in a mass of bodies and fell onto his face after tripping on Aizawa's arm.

With a few grunts, yelps, and 'hey watch it that's my (**insert random body part here)'** they all managed to untangle themselves from one another and to get back out to the marble road.

Happiness stopped once more, after reaching the outside, and so did Raito and the Team. The marble rode was in ruins. Chunks of rocks lay everywhere, but suddenly all of the debris started to liquefy and be absorbed into all cracks before solidifying once more. The men just stared on, then shrugged it off. After the moving buildings, it only made sense, plus they were too tired to care.

So they started to walk once more towards the Hall. The only difference was that now the Team was rubbing their sore spots as they walked.

It seemed like an eternity that they traveled the paths of the maze that was L's mind. Happiness was humming a tune when he spun around with a great smile on his face. But the smile disappeared where he faced the men.

"Where's Mogi?"

The Team froze in their tracks. All turned but found that no burly man was to be found.

"He was right behind us." Aizawa said, worry coloring his tone

The yellow-eyed man face-palmed, then threw his hands in the air. "I told you! DO NOT SEPARATE from the group! But do you listen? Nooo, of course not! Why listen to me? What do I know? I, only the guy that has lived here all his life!" The man cried out as he stalked up and down the street. He let out a long sigh. "Well, no reason to cry now, but this will delay us... you better stick close together. If you don't, I'll make you hold hands." At that threat the Team huddled closer, Raito only rolled his eyes. "Just don't separate. We have to go looking for him. Start shouting."

Raito couldn't believe this; he wondered just how _Mogi _got lost. He expected that if there was someone to get lost, it would have been Matsuda. But then again the man was like a mute, he hardly spoke a word out loud, it wasn't surprising that if he wandered off no one would notice…

So now after every thing they had been through just in (what he suspected was) a few hours, they had to go looking for a companion, who managed get lost at the worst possible moment in the worst possible place.

Raito had to hold back a groan. If there was another alarm like the last he was sure they would never find Mogi again... for a long time at least.

"Raito-kun, I don't hear you yelling." Happiness almost sang out. Raito rubbed at one of the many sore spot on his arm, this little adventure in L's mind was beginning to become more trouble than it was worth.

The group of men dragged themselves around the maze that was the detective's inner-thoughts. Their bellowing could be heard for miles in the deserted city. They carried on like this until they began to get hoarse, starting to lose hope.

That was when they came across what had to be the largest building of the whole city. Its base was the size of a neighborhood, and its height made it tower over the other buildings surrounding it, it shadowed the whole area.

But all of that was ignored, because they found something underneath it that was so much more important.

Mogi.

The Team charged forwarded like a grope of mad rhinos, ready to scold the poor man, leaving behind Raito with happiness. Raito rubbed his temples as Happiness gave a heart-filled laughter.

Raito glared at the yellow-eyed man. Said man just turned to him with his bright smile. What was he so happy about?—bad pun.

"Don't look at me like that. I just wish people would be that happy whenever they meet me." Happiness winked at him before skipping over to the Team. All the while he had his head turned and yelled back, "I know you'll love to be the center of attention too!"

Raito shook his head and walk after him. He didn't know how much more of this 'high-spirited' L he could take, he never imagined he would miss aloof, blank-faced, L this much, but he did.

"--How did this happen? You're like, the most careful person on the Team!" Matsuda was asking loudly.

"One minute I was following you, the next I lost sight of you. I have no idea how it happened." Mogi said, shoving his fingers through his hair.

"But why didn't you look for us? Or try to signal us?" Soichiro questioned, looking more tired than ever since they had gotten there.

"Well, as I wandered around I heard should stay put and that I would be found soon. It came from over there. " Mogi pointed up to the gigantic building in front of them. The group all turned and craned their necks to look upwards, only to see a small orange speck at the side of the building.

Happiness started jumping up and down. " I would recognize that color anywhere! Hey! Hey! Child-ness! Hey, come down here!" He cupped his hands around his mouth as he yelled, trying to get "Child-ness'" attention.

"Who's that? Why is he up there?" Aizawa questioned, squinting to get a better look.

The speck apparently heard the energetic man, as he started to descend from the spot on the side of the building to the ground.

"That, dear Aizawa, is one of the other personalities I have mentioned before. He is the one of us that practically runs this place. Well, after Logic and Reason of course." Happiness was still looking up and was now waving.

"But isn't that Child-ness? How can he have so much power? " Soichiro grunted.

"You're the ones always call L childish, and that's absolutely true. However, one thing people fail to understand about L, is that his job isn't just cold, hard facts. Much of the cases he solved were because of his childish point of view. Policemen around the world will look at their cases in so many different ways and think the problem to death. At the same time, they fail to see small, obvious details that just might be their break-through. You'll be impressed at how easy things can be if you just see it in the way they're suppose to be; simple. Of course, being a genius does help." Happiness gave a goofy grin.

He continued. "Not to mention the stubbornness and competitiveness. Nothing can stop him from reaching his goal; he'll reach it or die trying." Here, Happiness' eyes locked with Raito's, before he continued, "What he was doing up there was repairing the crack in the building. You saw what those things do right? Well, this building is basically the whole Kira case! It has all the facts and resolutions to go on in it. Child-ness was probably keeping it all from falling to bits." he gave a cheerful laugh.

The men blinked, turning to the man who was supposed to be L's inner child. He had finally reached the ground to reveal himself to be not a man but literally a child. The boy, like Happiness, was exactly like L in smaller scale and with minor differences. Firstly he was the pocket version, secondly his hair was much shorter, curling on the ends but just as wild. He was wearing an oversized short-sleeved T-shirt. The shirt was so big its sleeves went down to the boy's elbows and its hem went halfway down his thighs. It was a strong orange color; with a Gothic black L in the middle. His oversized jeans covered his feet and he was wearing orange goggles with a soldier in his left hand.

"Joy!" The little boy squealed (in a rather high-pitched and boyish voice) running over to Happiness. Not able to reach higher than the man's legs, he hugged him around the knees. The boy then peered around the man's leg to the other men behind him. His eyes landed specifically on Raito.

The moment his eyes landed on Raito, a bright smile weeded its way to his face, rivaled only by Happiness'. He then dropped the soldier, together with the goggles, revealing his eyes. Like L, he had large bug-like eyes, but instead of making him look like an insect (like it normally did with L) it made the boy look like a puppy or a kitten or some other sort of cute cuddly animal. His eyes were orange as well, but unlike Happiness' they weren't the same shade as his shirt, they looked more like orange-colored honey. And the bags under his eyes were so small they only looked like thick eyeliner.

In short the boy was downright adorable.

Raito grimaced. L shouldn't be cute. Nothing about L was supposed to be cute. But as the boy ran to him like a puppy when its owner comes home, the only words that came to the main suspect's mind was…

'CUTE! AWWW!'

Mini-L attached himself to Raito's leg, looking up at him with wide curious eyes.

"Lift me." That was all the child said, in a squeaky voice, a far call from the deep tone of his older self. Raito froze, unsure how to go about the situation. He never was too fond of children (except his sister) they were loud, whiney, and always in need of constant attention. But seeing _L_ like this was just over the top. However, as the small human started puling on his pant leg, he had no other choice but to bend over and pick him up.

The boy wrapped his tiny arms around the chestnut-haired boy's neck, making him tense up. He looked at his father for help, only to see him with the look every parent gets when they want grandchildren (the look of "get married, screw the broad and give me some grandchildren to spoil")… oh boy.

"What are all of them doing here?" Child-ness cricked his head to the side, making him look like a curious puppy.

'Oh nothing, just taking a relaxing afternoon stroll' Raito thought sarcastically, adjusting the child in his arms to a more comfortable position. He was very thin and bony; his knees were digging in to Raito's ribs uncomfortably.

"Oh, we had an electrical accident and woke up here. We have no idea how we got here or how to get out." Matsuda said in what could only be classified as "baby talk" voice. Like when the adult talks as if they were retarded to children and animals, because obviously they won't understand you if you speak normally.

Child-ness made a thoughtful face, biting his thumb, making it look like he was sucking on it. Raito swore he heard the whole Team coo.

Child-ness took his thumb out of his mouth "Well, brain waves are primarily electricity passing from neuron to neuron. So when the electric current went through the chain of bodies it must have connected the brain waves which must have resulted in this surreal experience." All mouths dropped. Raito had half a mind to let go of the kid in shock. "It is only a theory though," Child-ness added as an afterthought.

Why didn't he come up with that theory? Oh yeah, the whole panicking, meeting 'Joy', all the moving buildings and being in the brain of your rival… he was surprised he was thinking straight now.

"Haha! Told you! If you simplify the problem the answer will come!" Happiness praised, clapping his hands.

Aizawa was the first to regain his composure. "Okay… now we have an idea of how we got here, but do you know how we get out?" Aizawa asked hopefully. Maybe they could skip this whole circus and just get out?

"No." The boy said. Aizawa almost fell over, but contained his anger; he didn't need a repeat from last time…

Child-ness squirmed out of Raito's grasp and hopped to the floor. "We should go see Logic and Reason! They know a lot of stuff! They will know how to get out!" Child-ness cheered. "Come on, Raito! I'll race you there!"

"I'm not racing _you_ anywhere." The teen said coldly. Why was the child only singling him out?

Child-ness pouted. "That's because Raito knows he can't win…"

The teen bristled, and took the bait. " Nooo. I just don't wish to get lost… and my legs are two times the size of yours; you'll be left in the dust." Raito huffed.

The boy gave a sly look. "But Raito is too heavy, he won't be able to pose as a actual threat. He'll never keep up with me, and he knows it. That's why he doesn't want to run against me."

Raito clenched his fists. How dare he! "Are you insinuating I am overweight?!"

"No, of course not! I am just saying that because of his size, he will have… a hard time beating me in a challenge of speed. And he knows it." Mini-L said in an idle voice. The argument was won.

Raito wondered if it was immoral to try and strangle a metaphorical child. His Kira percentage would go through the roof… "Oh I'll show-" but he didn't get a chance to finish as he was cut off by a shout of glee.

"You have to catch me first!" With a final shout, Child-ness took off running. Raito glared, before running after the little orange devil, down the road and around the corner.

The Task Force was left behind with a laughing personality, and wondering just what happened.

"Shouldn't we be worried Raito will get lost?" Mogi asked after a few minuets.

"Nah, as long as he follows the little orange pain in the side he'll be just fine. Come on now, we don't want to be left behind." After saying that, the yellow-eyed man then trotted off after the disappearing pair.

The Task Force hurried after him, not wanting to be left behind. Things had just gotten even more complicated.


	4. Pink

Awww, every one is so nice to my! I love you all! I do, I really do! You make me want to cry! Thank you!

Now, I said this in my profile, but I'll tell you now. Don't be afraid to point out mistakes in my work. I have dyslexia, and trust me; there _will_ be millions of them. You should see the chapters BEFORE I use spellchecker. It might as well write in red there are so many underlined words… so please, if there is this one word that is really bothering you I'll go and correct it. Trust me, it is better you tell me as soon as you can so I can correct it and every thing will be lemon ice cream, and apple pie…hmm lemon ice cream… so yah, I don't bite and I'm very open to any help I can get

I also got my self a new beta. My dear friend decided my story was too much work to keep up with so… give a warmer welcome to my new wonderful beta: MelonBread of Doom! YAY. For with out her my spelling would be a train rec…

The chapters are getting bigger… hmmm, well anywho, if any one wants to guess the whom next personality will be and their color feel free!

**Pink**

At Peoples plaza.

One of the reasons Raito hated children was because of their bottomless energy. He had propped himself against the wall after his little run with mini L. the boy wasn't joking when he said he could run fast. However when he was just about to pass the boy, he was tripped by the little pipsqueak. Now he was sulking. Of course, if he had actually past mini L he would most certainly had gotten hopelessly lost, and they would have a repeat of what happened to Mogi. That was what pissed him off the most. The little devil knew he couldn't win and he him self had taken the bait. Stupid L.

Now that child-ness had his fun they were waiting for the others to catch up.

"How will they even know we are here? You didn't exactly leave them a route to follow, and I'm pretty sure we left them behind miles ago." Raito huffed; he was still pissy about what just happened.

"Don't sulk Raito. That kind of behavior is not becoming on you." Child-ness hummed as he tinkered with an open trap door on the floor. Raito was still wandering what the hell he intended to do with that. However, he was still mad and his pride impeded him from asking

Minuets ticked by and the curiosity was eating away at the back of his head making his fingers twitch, so he crossed his arms. Slowly, oh so slowly he inched closer to child-ness as he worked with the wires in the trap door. He was just about to pear over the boys shoulder, just a little more…

"Done!" Mini L cheered. Raito quickly rushed over to where he was before and started checking his nails. Hoping the kid hadn't noticed his interest. There was a sparking sound and the building behind him suddenly lit up with a flash of light. Raito just stared up at the building, then at the boy.

"There, now they will be able to find us just fine!" Child-ness gave a cute little smile. All Raito could do was nod his head in agreement.

And he was right; it wasn't long before the rest of the men found them.

"Ah! There you are! Have fun while we were gone?" Happiness said cheerfully as he bounced towards them (the Team walking behind him like normal people).

"Great! I won!" Childness said happily, arms up in the air. Raito stayed quiet but he was sure his gall showed on his face.

"Ok, Great… can we go now? How far is the plaza any way?" Aizawa grumbled. Raito wondered if the man was always in such an iffy mood and he never noticed or if today was just an exemption. Not that he was too pleased him self…

"Oh yes! I would say we only have three more blocks to go." Happiness said, completely ignorant of Aizawa's bad mood, flashing the man his 100 Watt smile. Then walking up ahead of the group humming another song (Raito thought he heard candy man). Raito was starting to wonder if happiness was really a part of L. he just couldn't accept it, not when that man bounced, hummed and _smiled_.

His musings where interrupted by a tug on his pant leg. He looked down to see mini L looking back up at him. He then lifted his small arms flexing his fingers. "Carry me?"

He wanted to say no. Oh how he wanted to say no. But it was like looking at your pet and refusing him food. He gave a deep sigh. Before giving in and picking the boy up and following the group.

As he walked (behind Mogi and in front of his father) he felt a pull on his hair. His head wiped around and faced the child in his arms.

"Did you just pull on my hair?" Raito asked.

"No."

"No, I'm sure you just pulled my hair."

"Did not."

"Yes you did."

"Nope."

Fed up, Raito freed one of his arms and pulled on the boys' hair. Hard.

"Ahhh! Joy, Jooyyy! Raito pulled my hair!" Childness cried, holding his head with his tiny arms.

"Now why did you do that Raito-kun?" Happiness said, all the way from the front of the group.

"Hey! He did it first!"

"That doesn't matter son. He's the child and you're the adult. You should be more mature then that." His father murmured from behind him. He couldn't believe this! Raito was about to reply when mini L cut him off.

"Actually Yagami-san, I am only a figurative representation of a child with all its features, but I am not, in fact, a child." Mini L piped up, leaning in closer to Raito.

The men where silent for a moment as they walked.

"Soooo, what's in this plaza we're are going to?" Matsuda asked, twiddling his fingers.

"Why don't you see for your self?" Happiness said, a big grin on his face.

The man stopped when the sea of buildings came to an abrupt halt and a giant clearing came in to view. It was circular and so wide in diameter and out of place it looked as if a meteor had crashed and made it. You couldn't even see the other side of the circle.

Like the road they where on, the entrance floor of the plaza was made out of white marble. But what really caught all eyes attention was the fact that the plaza was filled with statues. All organized in straight lines that went from the middle to the circle to the outer part of it, giving you just the right amount of space for you to pass through them to the middle.

There where hundreds of statues. But what differed them the most was what they where made of. Gold, silver, copper and wood. Most of the wooden statues where busts that sat on rectangular pillars, so they where able to reach up to a grown man's chest. All the others where full blown statues.

The team and Raito all turned in unison to Happiness for an explanation.

"Well the name is peoples plaza. So what did you expect?" Happiness shrugged and started to weave himself between the metallic humans.

The group looked at each other and like so many times before had no choice but to follow.

Raito looked at all the still faces in wonderment. He wondered who all of these people could be. They had to have some connection to the detective right?

Mini L snuggled closer to him. Raito looked at the boy out the corner of his eye. Mini L had his head down on his shoulder with his arms still tied tightly around Ratio's own neck. He wondered about the boy. He was probably one of the biggest part of L they would find. Maybe that was why it was so easy for the boy to rile him up. It was like fighting with L, like being with L again. Only he was smaller and cuter version. Maybe that was also why it bothered him when the boy got so close to him or played around like he did or when he asked to be carried or held. It felt like L wanted him to do that to him… Okaaaay, this was starting to go down a dangerous path…

But what did that tell him about himself? He didn't refuse… he couldn't resist… but the boy was just so cute! Like a panda (funny, because every time he thought of the detective, he always pictured a raccoon… with the black circled eyes and the way they hunted through garbage all night long…) did that mean he thought L was a cute cuddly panda? Wait! No! What? Argh! He knew this kid was going to drive him insane! L didn't look like any animal; if he looked like something it would be the living dead. Yeah, that settled it. L, the greatest detective looked like something that crawled out of a horror movie. Not a panda or a raccoon. He wasn't even human.

Satisfied with where he managed to drive (force) his thoughts to Raito focused back to his surroundings. Most of the outer part of the circle was filled with a variation of statues from wood to silver spread out randomly. Only when you began to reach the center did the statues begin to become all gold.

The men finally reached the center. The middle had a small open space. It was ten meters in diameter and right in the middle, the core, the heart of the whole plaza were four gold status. They where the largest ones in the whole plaza.

It was Watari.

The figure of Watari was the biggest of all of them (3 meters in height, not including its stand). Around the back there where statues of three other people. Raito imagined they were kids by the size and shape.

Child-ness wiggled himself out of Raito's arms and sprinted towards Watari's statue. Going around a simple metal bench that sat in front of Watari.

Child-ness placed his hands on the stand holding the figure up. He had a small happy smile on his face. Happiness followed him, and patted his head as looked up at the sculpture, and for some reason Raito felt something burning in his chest at the very family like sight. Like an older brother and younger brother together under a father figure.

Happiness turned around, mini L having to tear him self away and he was picked up by the yellow-eyed man.

"Well, you are all wondering about the plaza right?" happiness asked. There was a murmur of agreement. "Its quit simple actually. Every single one of the figures you see here are all a replica of the originals. They are all people L has meet or seen in a lifetime on earth. This included random people of the street you see passing by." Happiness said, as he switched mini L from one arm to the other. The men looked around with interest.

"But why are there statues made of gold and such?" Matsuda asked as he approached one gold figure of some unknown women who had her hands on her hips and a scrawl on her face. The young cop touched the base.

Raito had a thought full face a moment before asking. "It a ranking system right? I'm assuming the gold are the most important people while the wood would be random pass byes, correct?"

"Yay for Raito! He got it right" Child-ness cheered, throwing his hands in the air. Raito couldn't help the tiny smile that crept on his face as the kid began to bounce up and down in Happiness's arms.

"Yes, correct.. Gold is for the most important people in L's life at the moment.. Silver, the most important contacts or people of great power and high rate murderers. Copper is mostly victims, eyewitnesses, low ranked police officers and low rate murderers. Wood being people with hardly any importance but the fact that they existed and L just happened to see or bump into, almost no influence at all, really…" Happiness said as he ticked off the points with his fingers. Which was rather impressive considering he had a kid sitting on his forearms.

"Why don't you look around?" mini L asked, cocking his head to the side.

The team looked to one and other before slowly, hesitantly, separating and having a look around.

Raito went around Watari's figure to have a look at the other people that shared the spot light with the detectives trusted partner. He never imagined Watari had such an important part in L's life. Really, all he ever seen the man do was serve L like a butler… he wondered how deep their relationship was. By the sheer size of the sculpture he probably meant a lot…

Behind Watari, the other statues where of three children. The all seemed to be around the age of 7. The first was a boy standing up. His head was down as he watched intently the screen of his game boy. Because of the gold color of the sculptor Raito couldn't tell the much more about the boy. He did have goggles over his eyes though, much like the ones child-ness was wearing when the group met him a while ago.

The next child appeared younger. He sat with one knee pulled under his chin and with the other leg lying by his side. He looked incredibly bored with the toy car in his hand, but what really perturbed Raito was the incredible similarity his eyes where to L's. A rather chilling thought of the detective having kids ran through Raito's mind. But he quickly desecrated it. Who would sleep with the extrinsic man anyways? Raito felt a hot blush spread across his nose. He really didn't want to think about the detective in any sexual way. He felt the blush grow bigger, spreading all the way to the tips of his ears. Sex and L shouldn't be in the same sentence, shouldn't be in the same paragraph…

Raito shook his head, trying to shake all mental images of L doing anything that would produce him any offspring's. And chucked the funny feeling he had at the pit of his stomach from nausea. Yeah, nausea…

The teen cleared his throat and turned this attention to the last sculpture. The last child was a girl. Her hair reached her chin and she was in rather tight leather for some one of her age. She was clutching a bar of chocolate her right hand and had a nasty sneer directed at little boy on the ground next to her.

Raito scratched the back of his head. He wondered what it would be like to meet them personally. The girl looked like she would be a hand full. Raito sighed. He would never really like kids, would he? (That is, until he had some of his own).

There actually was a plaque underneath the sculptures on its the base. Raito crouched down to read what was inscribed on them.

MATT, NEAR, MELLO.

… What type of names where those? (Like "Light" was any better). They where probably aliases. Still, the plaque's where rather large, but all it said on the three of them where the 'names' and nothing else. It was like some one had erased any other information the plate had to offered.

"Did you really expect to find any other information?" Raito almost yelped, jumping at the sound of Happiness voice from behind him. He spun around to find the two personality's looking at him curiously. Mini L had climbed down from Happiness's arms and was now only holding the man's hand.

Raito clutched at his chest trying to calm down his pounding hart. "What?" he said weakly.

"You really didn't expect there to be any more information displayed there for you? Right?" happiness asked. Raito just gave him his best blank gaze. Happiness smiled softly. "Raito, you are still the number one Kira suspect. We can't just give away such personal information, such as names, to some on that can easily turn that data against us." Happiness smile became rather sad.

That made sense, but for some reason it upset Raito. "You can censer you own mind?" the teen asked.

"It's not quite censuring. The information is there but _you_ just can't see it. We can only do very little though. Only very few plaques can be covered. It's not much, only being able to block some information here and there from paring eye's, but it helps." Child-ness answered. He leaned his messy haired head against Happiness's thigh, looking up at Raito.

That sounded like censuring to him. Raito didn't like this, he didn't like this one bit. The whole reason this little trip would be worth his while was the fact the L couldn't hide anything from him. This made him angry. Angry and sad, but he didn't know why he had this slight filling of melancholy. So he concentrated on his bitterness. He turned to the statues again. This time with a glare. And that's how the trio stayed. Raito glaring at the sculptors, lost in a mental rant about this whole situation not being fair, and the two personality's simply standing next to him. Letting him have his space.

"Hey! Hey guys! Look what I found!" Matsuda's exited voice broke the silence, bringing Raito to his senses.

"Ooooh, It sounds fun! Lets go, lets go, lets go!" mini L jumped up and down on the spot, before grabbing Raito's and Happiness's fingers in his tiny fists and dragging the bigger men across to Matsuda.

The man was hiding way between a group of gold sculptors. However, when Ratio saw whom the statues where he wasn't sure if he should be snorting or surprised.

It was the team. Matsuda, Aizawa, Mogi and his father. There was even one of himself. All immortalized in gold.

Matsuda was standing underneath the sculptor of himself. The statue looked exactly like the young cop. It was standing with one hand rubbing the back of his neck nervously and a sloppy smile on his face.

Perfect Matsuda.

The team all gather round. Going towards there own statues in amazement.

Aizawa's sculptor had its hand grabbing at his hair and the other was on his hip, looking rather annoyed.

Mogi's sculptor was simply standing with his arms crossed over his broad chest.

And his father was the most eye gripping to Raito. He was in a position with a gun in his hand and a determined look on his face.

"Oh looky here. There is something written about us!" Matsuda said excitedly. Now this got Raito's attention. He turned to Happiness and Child-ness, who just shrugged.

"Toda Matsuda, Birth date: 14 of December of 1978, Height: 174 cm, Wight: 59 Kg, Blood type: B." Matsuda read out loud, he made a thoughtful face before containing. "Profile: described in one word, the man is a sheep, he likes following trends and has difficulty keeping up with the other members of the Task Force. Many times I wonder why he decided to become a policeman. He is naive and too trusting. I have come to question why I have him on this Task Force." Matsuda cut himself off. He had a hard bricking expiration on his face; his lower lip was quivered a bit. Mogi walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

Still, Matsuda went on. "However, I have come to see great potential in the man. He isn't too smart but incredibly loyal and is not afraid to act. This, at times, will lead him into great dangers, but his 'act now think later' reaction may save lives. Giving him a few years and I see him becoming a very good policeman… " Matsuda, now, had his mouth half open. He blinked a few times. The Team blinking with him. He touched the base of the sculptor, and then trailed his fingers throw his hair, and just stared at the plaque.

Aizawa tuned to his own statue and read out loud. "Shichi Aizawa, Birth date: 11 of May of 1969, Height: 183 cm (with hair), Weight: 70Kg, Blood type: B. Profile: his short temper and bad habits of assuming things with out proof is what hinders him most in his work. It is very difficult to work on the case with his constant nagging and doubt towards my methods and almost every move I make. His little self-control over his tongue will land him in great trouble anywhere he goes!" Aizawa's voice kept getting higher and higher as he read out loud, his fury growing with every word. "Well, if he didn't use such unorthodox methods and maybe told us things more often, then I wouldn't need to be questioning his 'every move'!" the man gritted out. Raito couldn't help but agree with Ryuzaki, it didn't take much to push the mans buttons…

"Is there any thing else their Aizawa?" Soichiro asked hopefully. He really didn't need this be added to Aizawa's list of 'things that make me respect Ryuzaki lesser and lesser every day'. Together with playing with his food, and no respect for human right's or personal space, the list was growing rather big. He didn't need 'no respect for my own personal opinion' added on…

Aizawa cooled down enough to nod his head and read the rest of the plaque. "However, I have great respect for his strong integrate and unmoving personal opinion. Moreover, to me, the fact that he put his family over all else is most impressive. He is a good man, and some one that I can rely on. I have grown to respect him. " Aizawa mouth opened like he was going to say something, but all that came out was a gargling sound. He was absolutely speechless, with good reason too; no one saw that one coming.

Soichiro had to smile. Maybe this would help the short-tempered man's and Ryuzaki relationship …

He hoped…

Mogi looked at his own profile. He hesitated a mint, looking back at the Team, Aizawa and Matsuda where still staring at there own profile, probably tuning what they read in their head.

"Kanzo Mogi." He said. "Birth date: 13 of September of 1973, Height: 188 cm, Wight: 81 Kg, Blood type: O. Profile: hardly contributes to the case verbally. He easily takes orders with out question. I ask my self if this will hinder him in the future, his rather mindless obedience. On the other hand, he is the most productive team member in almost all arias. It almost comes down to an art. Strangely, he doesn't seem so happy with his own work, and this only drives him forward. I read his cooking is good and find myself wondering at times what it would taste like. With the way he pushes him self forward in something he thinks he isn't good at. Maybe he has a good raspy for cheese cake?" Mogi finished talking slowly.

"_You_ cook?!" Matsuda burst out. He had no idea the barley man cooked. In fact, no one did.

"Uh, yes, yes I do. Drowning my free time. Its rather relaxing…" Mogi admitted.

"How come you never told us?" Matsuda asked, getting exited.

The man shrugged his shoulders. "Its not a topic that really comes up in conversation you know…" Mogi replied.

Matsuda hopped over to the large man, chatting a mile a minute about just how much he wanted to taste one of his dishes.

Soichiro look down at his own statue. To him, he was portrayed rather heroically. He thought it to be a bit much. "Soichiro Yagami, Birth date: 12 of July of 1955, Height: 181cm, Weight: 68Kg, Blood type: A." he read out loud. "Profile: The one with the most intelligent of the men in the Force. A good father, but a man who spends too much time trying to make the world a better place for his children, making him neglected the very thing he is fighting for. Rather ironic really. I have worked with many men and women over the years but never had I seen some one with such an unsatisfying want for Justice. Someone is willing to put his family through surveillance and mental trauma to prove their innocence. Never had some one gotten my respect as fast as he did. I do not remember much of my own father, but I hope he was 1/10 of the person Soichiro Yagami is " Soichiro stood there staring a his profile. What could he say to that? What could he say to any of this? But one thing he knows for sure. What they read today would have never, EVER, been said out loud to any of them under any circumstance by the detective. Ever. The feeling of digging where they shouldn't came back, hitting Soichiro full force.

The men where quiet for a while.

"Is all of this true?" Soichiro questioned, tuning to Happiness and Child-ness. Mini L was hanging off the yellow-eyed man's shoulders peering out from behind the man's back in piggyback.

Happiness leaned his head slightly to the side, eyes almost closed, with a small smile on his face. "You can hide many things from the real world, but you can't hide from your self. The mind is the only place some one can be 100 % truthful." Was all he said. Mini L nodded his head in agreement, staring at them with big eyes.

Through out all this, Raito stayed deathly quiet. He was absorbing all of this like a sponge. He never imagined the detective had such a view on the team, especially his own father…

All the other men had gone back to staring at there own frozen image. Raito when to look at his own figure. The resemblance was frittering. It was like looking into a gold mirror. His hands where digging into his pockets, his back straight and his head turned to the side. Looking like someone who didn't have a care in the world. He frowned. Was this really how Ryuzaki thought of him? Aloof and uncaring? He moved his eyes to the plaque at the base. He didn't read it out loud like the others. Instead, he kept it all to him self.

Raito (Light) Yagami

Birth date: 28 of February of 1986

Height: 179 cm

Wight: 54 Kg

Blood type: A

Profile: Kira. (He had to hold back a snarl at that) Raito hands to be one of the hardest people I have come across to read. I can easily see through most of his lies. But I feel I am playing a game in which I don't know the rules. And the closer I get to the answer, the closer I come to my end. I see the difference in the boy, from now compared to before his imprisonment. How before his eyes shine with schemes and so unreliable. Now it's like he all but a mass murderer. It tires me, I have to put so much though into every little word that comes out of his lips. Still, at the same time, I have never felt this sort of connection to some one so close to my age range. I said Raito Yagami was my first friend and I meant it. I have made connections with him I haven't done white any one else. And …

…

…

Nothing, the sentence was cut off mid line. They had wipe out the rest of the paragraph. The teen clenched his fists. And what? What was he going to say! Why did they censer this? The more questions the more his curiosity grow. He swigged his body around to demand that they reveal the rest of what was inscribed, but the moment he turned they weren't there. Happiness and Child-ness where gone.

He twisted around, trying to find where they had gone, but all there was where frozen figures. The Team now where huddled up by the bench, discussing something he probably wouldn't care to know.

He made an impulse designee and took off. Determined to find the two personalities who hide themselves from his eyes.

He walked in long strides, poking his head between statues. Raito couldn't help but be impressed with some of the powerful men and women present there. From presidents to vice-presidents, all had their place. Frozen in silver. He passed lesser figures in wooded and criminals and there victims in copper.

And as he wavered the sculptors, his feet began to slow down and he looked more closely at the metallic faces he passed by. Until his eye caught a familiar figure.

Misa.

His feet took him to the girl. She was in gold, a sharp contrast to the surrounding copper and wood. She was leaning forward (exposing too much cleavage) in her typical Lolita dress with her hands behind her back. It was her trademark 'cute' pose. He wrinkled his nose. Deep down, he was rather indifferent when it came to Misa. He didn't particularly like her or dislike her. She had the ability to lift his mood as easily as to plumber it in to the ground. He wondered what L thought of her.

Misa Amane

Birth date: 24 of December of 1984

Height: 142 cm

Wight: 36 kg

Blood type: AB

Profile: A.K.A second Kira. Though her IQ is low she isn't afraid to take action, making her very reckless. She also has to be one of the strongest willed people I ever seen. Able to withstand torture. She is charming to every one making it hard for any one to suspect her of any thing evil. However, she seems to suffer the same change as Raito-Kun has. Unfortunately, if she ever becomes the second Kira, I fear for the safety of the team and myself, for she will stop at nothing to get what she wants. I afraid what will happen to Raito-Kun if he ever ended there relationship. Because of the death of her parents her mentality has been off at best…

None of this ever crossed Raito's mind. To him, Misa was a naïve girl who let here feelings manipulate her actions. To him, she just managed to rope him in to a relationship, which he never had the courage to get out of. (Though ever time he did think of trying, a faint voice in the back of his mind whispered to him to stop. And he always did) the idea of Misa ever being any thing other then a sickening sweet girl or a slit pain in his ass never occurred to him. Much less a potential ruthless murderer.

He looked at the blank eyes of the statue. How could some one like her be dangers? How could some one like you be accused of being the most wanted mass murderer, the faint voice asked evilly in the back of his head. The teen shook his head at that, suddenly feeling uncomfortable in his own skin. With one last glance at 'Misa-Misa' he went on walking.

As he walked, more familiar states he saw passing by. Aiber (gold), Wedy (gold), Ray Penber (silver) and Naomi Misora (gold). He stopped at her sculptor. Now that he though about it… he hardly remembered anything to do with the day he meet Naomi. He felt like his memory was full of holes.

He growled. This little trip was making he question himself instead of getting answers about the detective.

He started to walk briskly once more. This time with purpose.

That is, until another two figures got his attention.

This one or should I say these two where different from the others he had stopped to look at. Nether of them where people he knew or that he was familiar with. They probably went even all that important to the detective, since both figures where made of wood.

It was a man and a woman. The man was in his early 30's and the women in her late 20's. Different from the other wooden statues these two weren't just busts. They had a head and torso. The women was missing one of her arms and the man his nose, not to mention the wood it self was extremely weathered.

Both of them had this eerie resemblance to the detective. The women had long flowing hair that stuck up in odd places. The man had death fish eyes. All in all, they look like L's parents. It was funny; L having parents never passed his mind before. To him the detective had just popped out of thin air a fully-grown adult. With no past, just now. He barley thought of L as human… but seeing people that looked even slightly like L, well, it was weird at best. No one should look like L. but for some reason, for a reason he couldn't explain, L being human made him very happy.

He continued musing over all of this for a while. Before he rubbed at this face. He could muse all he liked, he'd never know what was true. The didn't even have a damn plate at there base, for crying out loud! Shouldn't L's parents be more special to him? Shouldn't they be in the center of every thing instead of Watari and throws strange little children? Well, his father did read out that L didn't remember much from his father… Agh! He decided he had enough of all this foolishness. He would just go back and join the Task Force. Why did he leave again? Oh, yes. His strive for knowledge… after his little trip he would just wait for twiddle Dee and twiddle dumb to come back. Looking for them hadn't been his smartest move.

Raito made his way back too the center. But when he finally got back there was no one. He wanted to slap him self. Of coarse there was no one! All of them must have gone looking for him. Raito held back a sigh. Well, he might as well wait for them here. They would probably never find each other if they kept playing this game of cat and mouse. Wasn't there a bench around here somewhere?

Raito made his way to the only bench in the whole plaza. But as he reached Watari's statue, he found there to be some one else already there.

Raito creped closer. The stranger had wiled raven hair and was his size, so it probably was Happiness. Oh, was he going to give him a piece of his mind…

"He's a great man you know." The stranger said. His voice soft, low and calming. Completely different from Happiness, who was full of energy.

"Who is?" Ratio couldn't help but ask.

"Watari, of coarse." The man replied softly, as if it should have been common knowledge to the entire world. He got up to his feet, turning around to face Raito.

Raito gave a sharp intake of berth at the sight of the new comer.

Just like Happiness and Child-ness he was a different version of L. but this version didn't have only minor differences. No, these differences where huge. The shirt he was wearing was of a very faded pink. Like it went through the washer too many times. It was rumpled and faded and could hardly be called a shirt any more.

But that wasn't what surprised Raito. No. It was the man's face. Thin scares marred all of his face, making it look like a map. They where light and ran over his nose, over his eyes and down to his lips. But not over them. The flesh of his lip was intact and the scars just jumped over it and contained on his chin. However the scares didn't go down his neck. They stopped just at his jaw line and jumping there too to contended along his collarbone and under his shirt.

If Happiness looked malnourished, this man was on the brick of death. His hair was just as untamed and lively as the detective's. But his eyes, his eyes different then the other two personalities' who had their eyes mach their shirt, his didn't. His where fogged. Milked over so that not even his pupil was visible.

The man was blind.

Raito couldn't comprehend this man's appearance. He could have never imagined the detective with out his large blank stare, which tolled nothing but every thing at the same time. The eyes that looked like thick oil but held the spark of knowledge.

Raito let his breath go in small puffs. The man gave him a smile. It was a weaken one. Like it came from some one on his deathbed. A terminal illness smile.

"Who are you?" Raito managed to get out. His brain had come back on line after its aborted halt.

"Love." Was the simple answer.

Love? Love? Raito's brain went into over drive. The detective could love? Up until recently he thought the detective was just born the way he was now. All hunched back and with a sweet tooth. (And brain that can light up a city on its deduction power alone.) He had just come across the idea that maybe, just maybe, the man could be somewhat human enough to possibly have parents, and now, now he could _Love_.

"You can love!?" Raito burst out, but quickly covered his mouth. That didn't come out the why he wanted it to…

Love gave a chuckle. This made him look less ill.

"Of coarse. All humans love. Isn't that a basic human standard?" Love said quietly, but still loud enough it couldn't be classified as a whisper.

Raito had never really thought of L as, well, anything really. Much less human. However, there was small warmth in this body at the idea that L could love. It was rather creepy, the idea of L loving anything. (Other then cake of coarse) He imagined the blank faced men having dinner at candlelight. With some mystery women. His faced broken by a lovesick expression. His mouth twisted at the corner. He really couldn't imagine it.. The man was hardly sweet. It bothered him too. The idea of the bizarre man sharing a romantic relationship with some unknown women.

His inner ranting where cut short when he heard chains rattle. For one heart pumping moment it was like he was chained to the detective again, and they where at HQ. It turned out that the rattling came from the ball and chain attached to Love's ankle.

For the second time in the last 10 minutes he felt his eyes widen. He guessed this is what Happiness meant by truly locked away…

He felt cold hands on his face and almost fell backwards. It took all he had not to slap the hand roaming his face.

"What are you doing?!" Raito said between his teeth (if not slightly panicky).

"I'm blind Raito-kun." Love said simply. Continuing touching his face.

Raito shifted from one foot to the other, feeling very unconformable. The blind did do this right? Feel the face of some one new to image there face? But L know how he looked like…

L had never violated his personal space _this_ much. He lifted his hands to try and grab at the man's wrists and yank the fingers away from his face. But every time he got close, he dropped them back down before they reached their aim. This went on a few times, before he just gave up and let the other do what he wanted. He still felt like bolting away from the hands on his skin, if only his legs would carry him.

The hands where cold but soft. Raito imagined if the real detective hands where the same. The back Love's hands where just as scarred as his face. The tips of the fingers ran over the bridge of his nose, over his cheeks, under his eyes, along his jaw bone… even though this was probably the most awkward moment Raito had up to date (and the most surreal), it did feel really nice…

Raito's eye popped open (he didn't know when they closed) and he shoved Love away. Now that was just too much.

Love drew his heads close to his body. "I'm sorry. I must have gone too fair. I didn't mean for this to make you so uncomfortable." Thin man said faintly.

Raito felt slightly guilty now, but no one should invade his personal space like that (even if it was rather nice… really nice…)

"I might have acted a little hasty. Uh, sorry." Raito replied, Picking at his sleeve.

Both man stood in silence. Raito started fiddling with the hem of his shirt. He didn't remember the last time he was in such an uncomfortable position. This personality was making him feel completely out of his safety zone. The other personalities might have gotten him off geared, but this, this was completely different.

"So… has, uh, Ryuzaki, uh, loved many people, uh, women?" The teen asked. Any thing to brake the suffocating silence.

Plus, he was dying to know.

"I find it rather funny that so many people, when thinking of love, always think of it as romantic love. Never as platonic love. Love doesn't always have to be love between couples. And why would Raito-kun be so interested?" the scarred man asked, weak smile coming over his face. (Completely avoiding the question.)

"It's just so hared to image Ryuzaki loving anything…" Raito trailed off.

Love gave him his terminal illness smile "It is rather hared to be present in the life of some one that smothers you away whenever you try surface. But emotions can only be covered. Hidden. They will never acutely go away." Love answered, voice calm and soothing. Filled with a warm tone. A chilling difference to the original detective, who was aloes so cold…

And for some reason Raito felt happy again. If a bit creped out at such actions from the detective's distorted copy.

The situation continued being very awkward.

There was the sound of footsteps in the distant and chatter. The Team was coming back. Raito did his best not to seem eager to get away from the personality; doing his best not to take off running to his father side.

The first one to appear was child-ness. Upon seeing the teen he eyes lit up and he sprung forth with a battle cry of 'Raaaaaiiittoooo', slamming him self to the bronze haired teens leg.

Raito patted him on the head. He wounded if Sayu was ever this clingy when she was small. Mini L looked up at him cutely. However, Love seemed to catch his attention. He detached him self from the teens leg and ran up to Love hugging him. Raito pretended not to feel put out with how easily he was forgotten. He wondered if the kid had to hug _everyone_.

"Love! Where have you've been? It's been so long since I last saw you…" Mini L pouted, looking ten times more adorable then he already was. Raito had to wonder how something like that was part of Ryuzaki. He had to wondered how _any _of them was part of Ryuzaki.

"Always locked but never gone." The other simply said.

"Son?" Raito turned away from the two. It seemed like the rest of the Task Force had finally shown up.

The men came in as a group, Happiness leading the way. However, the moment they coat sight of Love, ever one stopped short. Bodies going rigged and eyes growing wide. A look Raito imagined was on his own face when he first saw Love.

"Ah, Love! Long time, no see!" Happiness trotted over to the to the personalities side.

"Love?" the Task Force corset. Every bit as surprised has Raito had been.

"Ryuzaki can Love!" Matsuda blurted out. Aizawa hit him on the back of his head. Matsuda gave an embarrassed grin. Raito would have done the same to Matsuda if he, him self hadn't said the same thing only moments ago.

Love only surged. His terminal illness smile back on his face. This made many of the Task Force members look away, scratch their arms.

It seemed that Love didn't only make Raito uncountable…

The blind man was about to open his mouth when Happiness jumped in "If you are going to ask why the members of the Kira case are here, well, we have some hypotheses but in the end we are looking for a way to get them out. So we are going to the Hall, to talk to you know who." Happiness rolled his eyes at his own statement. An inside statement that had the other man wondering what the relationship between the personality's had with 'Logic and Reason'. Mini L nodded from behind the yellow-eyed man's leg.

"Oh." Love said. He blinked. His sightless eyes moved over the Task Force, lingering on Raito (who coughed, and inched closer to his father)

"May I come along? It's been a wile since I have seen the light of day, and I must admit I have been feeling rather lonely" Love quested softly.

"Sure!" Childness cried excitedly, running over to Raito and grabbing his hand. "Come on Ratio!" The boy then started dragging the teen by the hand towards (what Raito assumed was) the direction of the Hall.

"Well, come on then. You'll see, all of you'll be out of here so fast this will seem to be but a bitter dream." Happiness said cheerfully. He ran behind the Force and started pushing them forward, as if he was herding cattle, in the same direction as Raito.

"A man can only hope…" Aizawa grumbled under his breath. But cleared his trout when Love looked over at him kindly.

Yes, a man could only hope…


	5. Gray

Uh, hello… don't kill me! I had a lot of beta problems the last few weeks. Consisting of her not answering any of my e-mails until I said "to hell with this" and had to go hunting for a new one on the sit. Thankfully I resaved a reply and now I have a new beta! YAY! I'm very reluctant to post any thing with out a beta going over it first… and if my old beta is reading this… will you please answer me?

People who reviwed, you are wonderful! I love you all! Keep up the good work! People reading silently from the shadows, I hope you like what you see! Now to the next chapter.

And all thank my beta who came to save me!

Gray

At the Hall

Ok, this was beginning to get complicated. It was one thing to realize you might have a chance to get to know someone at such an intimate level, to understand people is something men spend their entire life trying to do. Because you just never know what is going on in people's heads you know? People say one thing and think another, it was always like that, Raito would know. There are things you don't want people to know about, like the fact he pretty much hated every one around him(except his family of course). He put up with them because…well, unfortunately you live in a society and you have to live with these people.

Or the fact that he never really liked any of the girls he went out with or spent his time with, all he really wanted was to get into their pants. However, they usually don't go for the whole sleazy act. The whole 'hey, there hotty, I like your juggs. Wanna have sex?' yeah, that never worked with anyone in his school… he never tried of course! He was a genius for crying out loud! But the men that did…

Having a chance to really get to know someone is a gift. Like the weirdest man on earth (ok, maybe he wasn't that weired, but he was getting there. Fast) who just happened to be the world's number one detective. Who wouldn't want to understand some as complicated as him? Well, that was what Raito thought, until he discovered he had to go through all this.

Now he was caring his rival inner-child on his back, leasing to him chat away as he walked with the task-force and the detectives inner representation of Love and Happiness.

Yeah, Sigmund Freud was rolling in his grave right now.

Raito was pretending that he wasn't avoiding Love. No. Of course not. It's not like every time the personality came near him (which was quiet often) he would run to the other side and stay close to one of the other team members (mainly his father). No. Not at all. Not him.

Raito sighed. The was nothing wrong with Love. really. It's was just that every time the scared man came close to him, all he could think of was the implications of what he represented. Love. Yes, L and Love didn't fit together. Like L and sex. The teen blushed. Great, he was thinking of that again. No, sex and L didn't go tighter. Like L and love.

He looked over at Love, as they made their way through the human figures. He wondered if all those scars were scars of lost loves. Maybe from emotionally cutting remarks? He wondered if he ever caused one of throws scars. Did he ever cut the detective that deep with his tongue? But this was love they where talking about… if he made one of the scars did that mean the detective loved him? Well, the man did say he was his first friend. Platonic love then? A friend. Raito got a feeling inside him that tugged at his gut. It was unpleasant to say the least. Did he want Ryuzaki as more then a friend? But that would mean he hade to have deeper feelings for Ryuzaki, and it sincerely wasn't that!

….

….

…Right?

Damn it! This was supposed to be about discovering things about Ryuzaki, not himself. He was watching too many soap-operas with Sayu. It was just funny to think about L having a life before the investigation. That's all. The thought of some women bedding and maybe even loving the society retarded man was just too foreign to him. I mean, what is there to even like about the other man? He's rich and famous (even if no one knew that), you can give him that. But what about the rest? Bad mannered, annoying, messy, no sense of stile, of personal space, of good health (all. That. Sugar!), he was always right, no mater what other people thought. He has to turn every thing into a staring contest (that he always won), really! Don't even get him started on the constant interrogation! The constant suspicion! Kira this, Kira that, Kira, Kira, Kira! The way he plays with his food, How he plays with his animal crackers like some kid. The way he always has to pier over his knees at everyone… the way he pushes his lip when he is thinking, but hides it behind his thumb… the way his eyes look so bigger and brighter with those dark bags under them, and he can make them look so innocent too…

…Uhhh, where was his point again? Raito frowned to himself and huffed.

"What's the matter Raito-kun?" said teen tensed up when he heard Loves melodic and soft voice right next to his ear.

"Nothing, just thinking too much of the same subject." The teen replied, holding the urge of scooting close to his father.

"You shouldn't do that Raito! Some times the answer comes to you the less you think about it!" Child-ness butted in. Raito cranked his neck up to see the little devil hanging off his shoulders.

"yah, but it just keeps popping up in my head…" Raito grumbled unhappily.

"Well, this will take your mind off any thing your thinking! In fact it will take all of your mind off anything any of you were thinking!" happiness cheered. Raito hadn't even noticed they had reached the edge of the plaza and joined the others at starting at the hall.

You would think that after every thing that happened to them they wouldn't be surprised with anything else.

But this was L he was talking about, and nothing is simple or monotone when it comes to L. Especially if its his mind.

Like the plaza, the hall was standing on firm, steady marble. There were two structures. The first was a small Roman base house. It had pillars sustaining the roof and walls. Small and made out of the same white marbled of the floor. With a rectangular hole for the door.

Behind it, was an enormous structure. Raito couldn't define what architectural style it was. It seemed to be a strange mix between Roman, English and Japanese architect. The building itself was made so it went around in a semi-circle, stretching itself it would probably be the length of five blokes and two stories high. The roof was Japanese based and the structure varied between English and Roman. It was something you wouldn't expect to work together, but it had. It also gave off an air of liberty to Raito for some unknown reason. It was pretty much the only building that had any real color and wasn't made of fragile glass.

Matsuda gave a loud whistle. "Wow, what do you keep in there?" he asked.

"Ah, here we keep all information and information processing. It maybe be impressive on the outside, but that's because you haven't seen the inside! This is only the tip of the iceberg, you should see underground!" Happiness praised. He started hoping in direction of the larger building. The rest made there way behind him.

"But what about the smaller building over there?" Mogi asked, walking along side Raito.

"Oh, nothing too interesting. There is where we keep the physical representation of L." Child-ness hummed absent mindedly as moved off of Raito's shoulders to the ground.

Raito blinked. Physical representation? Of the real thing? He suddenly was over come with the want to go there, just to be able to get away from all of the nutty emotional parts of L and acutely be able to see the real thing. You know, just to fell a little more like all this would end soon and he would be abele to be sitting in a room full of computers. With the task force and the detective chained to his wrist… not that he wanted the man chained to his wrist or any thing! He only wanted things to go back to what they use to be before all of this mess started…

Chasing a worldwide murderer with supernatural power to kill people with a name and a face… See, normal. That's all he wanted. Normal. As they got to the entrance of the Hall, they could see the staircase that led up to the very heavy, very English, oak double doors. At the base there where Japanese stilled lion sculptures guarding the entrance.

"Well, it seems Ryuzaki's taste in decoration fits his personality. Doesn't it?" Raito heard his father mumble under his breath. Raito looked up only to see stone gargoyles sitting at the edge of the Japanese stile roof. He had to agree with his father there. But then again, when was Ryuzaki's taste in any thing not strange?

Still it all came together in a weird way that almost, almost, didn't make the different styles of architect look out of place.

Almost.

As they reached the top of the stars there where another two statuses, placed next to the door. They where Thoth, the Egyptian god of knowledge. Raito scratched the back of his head. Well, all he could say was, he was glad the man hadn't become an architect or interior designer…

"Mogi, could you help me open this? This things are heavier then they look." Happiness strained out as he pushed at the one of the wooded doors. Mogi did as asked and both began to heave at the double doors. Slowly, oh so slowly, the doors opened so the rest could go inside.

Books. Everywhere there were books. Shelves of books covered all of the walls. There was a line of bookshelves along the middle of the room. And what room it was. Its sides looked like the go on forever, curveting inwards like the out side impaled. The only place where it wasn't covered in books was the floor, ceiling and windows.

The ceiling was the complete two stories high and look like it was pulled directly out of a church. It was painted beautifully. With angels and demons fighting one and other. At the center of the ceiling there was a large gold Gothic style L.

Well, at lest he knew the detective had health self-esteem.

"Come on then, we are almost there. They should be at the control room." Did he hear right? Did he hear the sound of lament in Happiness voice? Was he sad that they where close to going home? Or was he sad that they would finally meet Logic and Reason? Raito thought of asking out loud, but decided against it. They would find out soon enoth.

"Raito-kun, you will be left behind if you don't hurry up." Love's soft voice cut throw his musing. Love was smiling at him, seeming the only one to have waited for him as the rest of the man made their way throw the bookshelves.

Raito gave a weak smile in return, and followed next to the blind man. He did his best not to seem like he was scooting away from him as they walked, but Love wasn't fooled.

"I know you are rather uncomfortable around me Raito-kun. You don't have to try and hide it to spare my feelings. I'm blind, not I'm not stupid. Please, give distance you feel will make you more comfortable." Love tolled him softly, terminal illness smile twisting his lips.

Raito fidgeted in place. Grate, now he felt uncomfortable and guilty. It's just with all that's been happening, the things he has been finding out, it was hard for him to feel comfortable. He was starting to losse his footing here. Everytime he thought he found stable ground in the place that was L's mind, they came and throw things like the plaza, the emotions, and the god damn moving buildings! And now Love was just so out of place, so raw, could you really blame him from wanting to get away from this suffocating feeling he had every time he was near the man. This place was grinding into his last nerve. And now he had more questions then answers.

Raito turned around to reply. To try and comfort the personality, but he was already half way in front of Ratio, walking next to Child-ness holding his hand. It appeared the man took his silence as a conformation of his assumptions and took matters into his own hands. Putting as much space between each other as possible.

The walked throw the books. Shelves covered in every stile of book emendable. Long, short, fat, thin all stuffing every shelf to the brim.

"And you said this was only a small part of Ryuzaki's intelligence? That the rest was underground?" Raito heard his father ask. The building was incredible as is, but to think there was more underground… Raito had always known Ryuzaki was a genius, but to actually see the scale of said intelligence represented vaguely… it was amazing! Raito imagined what his own mind would look like.

"Yes, there are many underground chambers that covered almost half of this land here. We may not have lived as long as you, Soichiro-san, but to get to where we are were a lot of hard work. Countless hours where put in to this building. You don't become a successful and great detective known worldwide without a lot of schooling and coulter." Love answered. Looking back at the team, face kind and gentle. Not fitting L's face at all, but not unattractive ether.

Raito couldn't help look around with appreciation. Walking in to a library, you expect an average person to have read, what? 300 books in their lifetime from that single library. But seeing a library of this scale as the knowledge of one single person. That was astounding. This made Raito feel incredibly close to Ryuzaki. Like this was something they could share in common.

As the group walked the teen suddenly became aware of how incredibly quiet this place acutely was. Every footstep echoing the empty space and bouncing off the walls. very different from the humming buildings outside.

"Is it always this quiet here?" Raito questioned. You would think that a genius mind would be, you know, more active…

"No, actually. It's only this quiet because of the state of unconsensus. Otherwise this place would be buzzing! You wouldn't be able to hear yourself think! It would be like sitting next to a blender." Happiness answered, seeming more cheerful now.

"Come on Raito, your so slow!" Child-ness wined, making his way back and dragging the teen to the front of the group. He bounced happily around him, swinging the teen's hand around. The boy look exactly like the normal little kids that Raito saw whenever he went to the park. Dragging their mothers along and just being kid. Sweet and innocent. He wondered if he was ever like this with his father. He wondered if Ryuzaki was ever like this with his penance. Really the kid was just too cut to be true.

Before the team knew it, the quantity of bookshelves thinned and soon enough they came to a small circular space free from any books. It was literally a circle, which dented the wall into a curve to accommodate its shape. The circle was the only area in the Hall that was carpeted. The whole inside of the curved wall was filled with computer screens. Bathing the area in blue light. All the screens where normal sized, found in any computer, but the middle, that had one-meter length and wide screen. On the screen there was many windows open with all kinds of data. From numbers to charts to many texts in different languages. Next to the opening was a statue of lady justice. Her eyes blind folded and a balance hanging from her right hand.

In front of the screens there was a table, and in front of that table there was two computer chairs. One of which was occupied.

"May I help you?" came a dull monotone voice. It was cold and very like the one the original L used, but there was something missing from it. It may seem crazy, but to Raito, there was missing life from that voice. Feeling, that the original had.

"Logic we have a problem-" Happiness began to say but was cut off by the man in the chair, who didn't even acknowledge their arrival. He didn't even turn around, just kept on typing

"We always have problems Happiness. Life is filled with them. That's why I'm here. To make these problems go away. Is that all?" Logic droned out, dismissing the other personality completely.

Raito looked at the yellow-eyed man out of the corner of his eye. The personality was clenching and unclenching his fists. Teeth grinding together as he tried to keep his temper in check. Raito looked over at the rest of the task force who just shrugged back.

"Yes, that's precisely why I came here to-" Logic cut the man off once more.

"You are not going to go on and on with that awful long speech of yours again, are you? The one where you complain about fair treatment, and that how at the rate if we don't start taking action now we will eventually burn out? Or that you should have a bigger roll in L's life, Is it? Because quiet frankly, I don't have the time right now. We all know how little our dear host sleeps and I would like to be able to reorganize some of his thoughts and memories. So please, don't waist my time with idle chit chat." A hand appeared over the hunched shoulder and waved about in a 'shoo' motion. The voice still dull and uncaring.

Raito stood taken aback. Not even L was this detached and rude. He looked over to Happiness, who was now massaging his temples. It seemed like he was counting to ten.

"Look, all I want is a mint, ok?" the yellow eyed man ground out. Looking as if he was ether going to cry or strangle the man in front of him.

"Time is precious, and I intend to use it wisely. You know exactly what I think of you, Happiness. This mind could thrive, if only all of you emotions went here. Oh, the things I could accomplish. If only the lot of you wasn't present." For the first time the dull voice had a tint of lament. Shaggy hair balanced back and forth as the man shock his head.

Happiness looked to be at the end of his rope. "Well, your human! Deal with it! We aren't going anywhere, and you know it! We have just as much right to be here as you do! More so! You can't just pretend we're not here! Now stop trying to ignore me and lessen, damn it!" Happiness burst out. Marching over tacking holed of the computer chair, swinging it around.

"My, that was very rude of you." Logic said dully. Hands clenching the arms of the chair not to fall off. That's when his eyes landed on the task force and Raito.

Out of all of the personalities, Logic looked the most like L. he sat in the same way, spoke the same way and had the same wield hair. However, was warring a gray shirt that was so neatly presed it would put even Raito to shame. The color, however, was really lifeless, making even the original L's plain white shirt look cheerful and fun.

His eyes where a darker shade of grey then his shirt, only making him looks more like the original detective. They were half lidded instead of wide like the should have been, making the man look very bored. Like nothing and no one was worth his time. Still, they radiated an intense stare that made Raito feel like an object instead of a person. That's what really made his skin crawl. He awls thought that L had the most lifeless eyes that seemed to put you underneath a microscope, but now, seeing this personality, he felt the detectives star was much more human. Like there actually was a person behind those eyes. There was nothing there when he looked in Logic's eyes. Nothing at all. He might as well be looking into the eyes of a stuffed animal.

Logic studied them. Eyes trailing over each one individually. "Yes, it seems we do have a problem." His head crooked lazily to the side, tuning his attention back to Happiness (who by now hade regained some composer). "How long have they been here, and what have they seen?" Logic asked dully. Seeming uninterested.

"Not long. I found them at the out skirts of town. They wanted to go home, I had no idea how to get them out, so here we are now. They didn't see anything of importance. We went threw peoples plaza if that's what your after." Happiness replied irritably. He really did not like Logic, did he? Raito couldn't blame him though. He was just so cold and dead.

"Ah, that useless little habit of yours seemed to have played off." the (not so) cheerful man forced a smile at the monotone jab. "I do trust you and your companions took precautions?" Happiness nodded stiffly. "Very well then."

Logic then turned his back to the team, going back to typing on the computer. The team all shared a look. Was that it? Aizawa seemed about to blow his top off when Logic swung around to face them again.

"It seemed the electric current did more damage then initially thought. Now I find myself with more problems then possible brain damage…" The gray eyed man gave a pointed look at them.

"But how is any of this possible?" Soichiro asked.

"Simple. Brain waves travel in electric pulses. The group was caught in an electric chain. The powerful electric sock traveled around the joined bodies in circles." The dull man made circles in the air with his finger. "Think of water traveling in loops. Then suddenly the current was cut off." he clapped his hands together suddenly, making Matsuda jump. "This being the explosion. At that moment all of the brain waves where concentrated on one point. This, unfortunately, must have been here. Thus, we have this wonderful situation." He waved his hand about lazily. Indicating his surroundings.

"That's what I said!" child-ness said excitedly. Logic eyes landed on him, and the poor kid seemed to shrink under his star. He quickly hid behind Raito's leg. "With less words and detail…" he squawked out timidly from behind Raito.

"It is only a possibility of course. If anyone has a more plausible theory, please, do tell." The cold man said.

"All that is all well and good, but you still didn't tell us how to get out of this damned place!" Aizawa huffed, apparently not able to hold his tongue any longer. Logic looked at him, and Aizawa took a step back under the full attention of his eyes, but otherwise stood his ground.

"Yes, that is the dilemma isn't it? Presumably you are all locked up here because the current is gone and the host is unconscious. If you wakeup the host, you permit more electro activity and the alien intrusion is expelled." Logic donned out.

"But how do we wakeup Ryuzaki?" It was Ratio's turn to ask. Logic tuned to him, making him feel like he was on an autopsy table.

"That, unfortunately, will involve them." The gray-eyed man pointed at Happiness, Child-ness and Love. "You see, in the unconscious state all we can do to induce wakefulness is to rise as one. Meaning that, we will have to gather everyone that makes 'Ryuzaki' an indevegale and bring then to Main Hall." Logic sighed.

"You mean!?" Happiness began, a bright smile covering his face.

Logic rubbed at his eyes tiredly. "Yes, all 12 of us must be present."

"Woohoo! It's been soooo long since I last saw everyone together!" Happiness started prancing around the group.

"Wait! You telling me we have to go after 12 more people just like him." Aizawa pleaded unbelieving as he pointed at the dancing Happiness.

"Its not that bad Aizawa-san! Look! We're halfway there already! 5 down 7 to go!" Happiness hooked his arm around Aizawa's neck, grinning like a fool.

Aizawa looked pleadingly at Logic who just shook his head miserly.

"I seemed to have missed something." Another dull voice came from behind the group. Making Matsuda jump and let out a yelp at its the suddenness. Everyone tuned as one in the direction of the voice.

Behind them was Logic, or some one that looked exactly like Logic. Except he was holding some bland yellow files in one hand, and his thumb at his lip with the other. Eyes half lidded.

Every one blinked, then tuned to look at Logic, then back to this copy, then Logic again. It went back and forth a few times before they steeled on the new comer.

"Reason, I see you have brought the files I asked of you." Logic said flatly.

"Yes, I have. But it seems I misted something drowning my absence. Shall we go back to work?" Reason replied flatly as well. Pushing his way throw the task force to Logic, handing him the files.

"No, unfortunately we have to escort our guests to the exit. So we will have to postpone all wishes to continue our work on another day." Logic hummed sadly. (Well, at lest Raito thought it was sadly, since it was said in the same tone of voice and facial exertion.) Reason made a displeased noise. "How troublesome." He said broadly.

"Indeed." Replied his twin.

Raito stared at the two. It was absolutely surreal. It was like Ryuzaki was having a conversation with him self. When he was with Happiness or Child-ness or Love it was different, the way they aced and there appearance. But with the two of them it was like seeing Ryuzaki in double. Then both of them trend to the rest of the group; eyes end up landing on the teen. No, even with both of them looking and acting exactly like Ryuzaki, it still wasn't L. they both where still lacking. They where just too… dead. To, plain.

"We have to finish up some work here, all of you should wait outside until we are done. That way we may set off on the hunt as soon as possible." Logic and Reason spoke together with the same bland tone.

"Yes, you do that. I think I'll go find a nice hard wall to bash my head against until I get a concussion or hopefully wake up in a nice hospital bed next to my wife and daughter. Which ever comes first. With my luck, it will be the prior instead of the later!" Aizawa huffed before stomping off in the direction they came. "One was too much for me, now I have to deal with 12! This-" was heard as Aizawa stomped off.

"I think I'll may sour he doesn't actually hurt himself." Mogi said before heading after Aizawa.

"Come on, lets get out of here. I can't stand another minute alone with these two." Happiness gambled picking mini L up and dragging Love and his father behind him. "Lets go Raito-kun! You don't want to be left behind with those two." The man said as they began to turn the corner.

Raito shivered at the idea of being left alone with the two creepy twins. However, as he began to follow the rest of the men he was tugged back by the wrist. Looking back he saw two incredibly pail hands grabbing him. He found, looking up to the stone faces of whom the hands belonged to. Logic and Reason. He tried to pull his arm away, but the grip on him wouldn't budge.

"Would you pleases let go. I would like my arm back." He tried asking, still struggle to get himself free.

"No." The pair said simply.

Raito was now starting to panic slightly. Starting to put all of his weight into getting himself free. Still, they wouldn't move. Only staring at him. With eyes that saw him as less then an object. To them, he was scum. Raito notes how very alone he was with the two, and that he couldn't even hear the others footsteps any more.

With one final heave against his captors he managed to break free (or they simply let go). Unfortunately, he lost his balance, falling backwards, on his backside on the floor.

He looked up to see the two personalities looking down on him. Eyes still half lidded and mouths in straight lines.

"I hope you have enjoyed yourself." One of them said lowly (Raito wasn't sure who, he guessed Logic).

"S-sorry?" he was becoming very confused (and a bit, only a tiny, little bit, friend.)

"Walking around here without a care in the world. Free to do as you please with whatever information you just happen to find." Logic said frostily, leaning in close. Too close.

"What are you saying?" Raito asked, unsure of where they were trying to get with this.

"Don't you play innocent with me, Yagami. We are not fooled by your pitiful act. We know there's a cold-blooded murderer in there. And this cold hearted murderer is wondering the mind of his only enemy capable enough not to fall for his tricks and able enough to actually put him in jail." Logic leaned back, still looking down at him with dead eyes.

Raito was flabbergasted. L was never this direct with him, or this forceful. "I wasn't, - I don't, I didn't…" he tried talking, but kept stumbling over his words.

"You may have the task force and those moronic emotions wrapped around your perfect little finger, but not us. We don't care for you little promise of friendship and human warmth. Mark my words Yagami, you will leave without finding any useful information or you wont leave at all. Different then those sentimental idiots, all we want is to get out of this case alive and to see you in jail." Both personalities leaned back. "If it were only up to us, you would have never left your cell."

In the teens mined, that tiny, faint, evil voice was screaming at him to get up and fight back. How dare they threaten him! The nerve! But the rest of Raito just sat there, numb, mind going over just what those words implied. Not only of his feat but of the detective himself.

For the longest time the three men just kept staring each other down. Until Raito heard someone calling his name. Not wanting to break eye contact, he just waited for whomever it was to get there.

"Raito! Raito! Where are youuuu! Rait- ah, there you are! I've been looking all over for you! What are you doing on the floor?" not since he got here was the teen so grateful to hear the young, high pinched, boyish voice of Child-ness.

Mini L came around, stopping right between himself, Logic and Reason, breaking their staring contest.

"The poor clumsy boy. He seemed to have tripped over himself. Why don't you help him up? We have work to finish off before we join you." Reason (or at lest Raito thought it was Reason.) said idly. Both twins turned and went back to their chairs. Living Raito and a very confused mini L staring at their backs.

"O…k? Come on Raito. Joy is having a fit. Saying how we shouldn't leave you alone with 'the two knights of the apocalypses'…or I think that's what he said. It was rather hard to understand what he was saying when Soichiro-san and Matsuda-kun where holding him down like that." Mini L said, biting his thumb.

The brunet happily accepted the boys help getting up and the started to make there way to the exit. The teen couldn't help but sneak one last look at the disappearing backs of Logic and Reason. Now dreading any other time he would be left alone with them.

They walked in silence through the bookshelves and the empty Hall. Mini L holding his fingers as they went.

"Uhh, so, I take it that happiness isn't keen on those two?" Raito asked when he was sure they where both out of ear shot.

Child-ness look down. "Truth is, they are the ones who are not to fond of us. They make it very clear they don't like us and think life would be much better with out us. It's not true. How can you be happy if you don't have the ability to be happy? Joy knows this better than any one, but they just don't care what he thinks, what any of us think. It alwayshas to be such a battle with them. But what can we do? Its oblivious who wins most of the time isn't it Raito?" the boy looked up at him with shining eyes. Raito bit his lip. What could he say to that?

Mini L continued. " The one who has it the worst is Love. Not many emotions Like him, but Logic and Reason? Oh, they do their best to bury him away. They say he blinds everyone around him. Not letting them think rationally. They say that all of us are a burden to them… we cloud their judgment" Child-ness stoped walking causing Raito to stop with him.

"You like us? Don't you, Raito? You don't think we're a waste of space, a burden, right?" The boy looked as if he was about to cry, looking up at Raito from under his messy hair.

The teen shifted in place. Oh, he was not good with the emotional comforting. Especially with kids. Helping his sister with homework was one thing, helping her get over her boyfriend was another. She always ended up running to their mother anyway… after he unintentionally made her cry… Why did she keep coming back to him when this kind of thing happened

There was a tug on his pant leg and he remembered the problem at hand. He could do this. It was only representations of a child… that represented L…

…

…Oh god.

"Of course your not a waste of space, non of you are. Its just to them, life would be easer and better with out you." Wrong thing to say! Wrong thing to say! The boy's lip was quivering! He was a genius damn it! He could do this!

"Look, Logic and Reason are made to be cold and detent. That's why you exist. They are what keeps Ryuzaki level headed. You, you are what make Ryuzaki human. Not them." He was on one knee now, hands on mini L's shoulders. Felling a lot like a big brother (which he was, just not to L). With only one thing on his mind.

Please don't cry. Please don't cry. Please don't cry. Please don't cry. Oh, please don't cry! He just couldn't handle crying!

"It doesn't mater what they think. I like you." This was his last shot. If it didn't work…

Child-ness mouth broke into a wobbly smile. He throws his arms around Ratio's neck, hugging him.

"Thank you Raito. That means a lot to me." The boy wisped into his shoulder.

Raito slowly, awkwardly, wrapped his arms around the boys back as well. Returning the embrace patting his back. "Yeah."

They stayed like this for a wile (running way over the 5 second rule) before Raito tried getting up. The boy didn't let go. Raito sighed (something he was doing more and more since they had gotten here.) and just picked the boy up.

"Thank you." Mini L said again. But this time Raito wasn't sure what he was thanking him for. He patted the boys back again.

All he could think of was, 'what would he do if the real L did something like this? The man sure had it in him, that's for sure.' what would happen then?

He made his way to the great oak doors. After every thing that happened since he got there, but especially now after Logic and Reason and now Child-ness. Raito thought to himself.

'Now I know I'm defiantly in way over my head here. And things don't look like they will be get any better for me.'


	6. White

You all are so wonderful to me! Thank you! That's why you all get relatively fast up date. (Fast when it comes to me…) unfortunately this will be the only chapter (that's not the prolog or epilog) with out a personality, sorry. It is also a pretty short chapter but an important one nother the less. I've been waiting so long to write chapter 7. you guys have no idea! I hope it comes out as good as I hope it will be. Things are starting to heat up.

It seems like I can't holed down a stable beta... but that's ok. As long as I have these wonderful people who acutely _ask _me to be my beta I think I'll be ok. A round of apples for my new beta zchocolatebunniesrulezworld… …. I can't even say that name but ok!

On with the next chapter! REVIEW!!!!

White

Sleeping beauty

The first thing that happened to Raito when he reached the great oak doors, was get tackled to the ground. It hurt quiet a bit and he had to try and not squash Child-ness who still was clinging to his neck.

This resulted in him falling on his ass, a child in his arms and Happiness trying to squeeze the life out of him.

"Oh Raito, I told you not to stay behind! What were you thinking! You shouldn't stay around Logic and Reason alone! They'll tear your head off! Metaphorically of course… are you okay?" Happiness babbled on, still crushing his ribs.

"I would feel much better if I could breathe." The teen choked out. Happiness unraveled his arms from around with a sheepish grin and a "sorry" before getting up and offering a hand to help him up.

"But seriously, they didn't harm you or something right? They are really keen on the idea that you're a mass murderer. I thought they might, you know, use this opportunity to… do something…" Happiness murmured as he helped Raito up.

"Wait! What do you mean, 'do something'!" His father asked indignantly.

Raito ignored him, rubbing at his poor sore ribs. "And you don't think I'm a mass murderer?" The teen asked, lifting an eyebrow. This was new. But then again, this was proof that what Logic said was right. Maybe he would get out of this mess without it having to be in a body bag.

The yellow-eyed man scratched the back of his neck. "You might be, you might not. Who am I to judge? I'm not exactly the 'brains' around here. You may have a serious case of double personality and a really mean ego, but… you know, no one is perfect, right?" Happiness laughed nervously at the unbelieving looks he was getting from the team and Raito himself.

"You don't control what you feel towards someone. It controls you." Love said quietly from behind them, a small smile on his face.

The situation suddenly became awkward to Raito. He shifted mini-L in his arms and looked away. He didn't know how he should take that statement. Happiness' nervous laugh suddenly became a little louder and more forced.

"Yeah… well we should be going now! What do you say! Places to go, people to find! We won't do any of that if we hang around here like a hangnail! Let's go!" Happiness started marching off to the staircase briskly.

"Shouldn't we wait for the other two banes of my existence to come out first?" Aizawa said, not amused.

Happiness stopped short of the stairs, turning his head with an impish grin plastered on his face. He then turned completely around. "Damn, I was hoping you would forget that little detail and we could just run along on our merry way and forget we ever met them." He did a running-along movement with his fingers, grin still in place.

Aizawa made a displeased face. "It was your idea to come here, you know."

"Yeah well, I told you I didn't know how to get you out and they did. Now we know what we have to do and they don't have to (and probably don't want to) come along." Happiness huffed.

"Maybe, but they said we needed all of you, and that includes them." Aizawa huffed back.

"We can pick them up when we come back. It's not like they will be going anywhere any time soon. I don't remember the last time they even got out of that damn building" Happiness answered back. This was quickly turning into a fight. Raito could feel it. However, surprisingly, it was Matsuda who cut in before Raito could even open his mouth.

"Hey, I was thinking. Wouldn't it be easier if we called everyone here instead of hunting them around one by one for who knows how long?" Matsuda asked loudly over the fighting pair.

"And how do you suggest we do that?" Aizawa snapped, annoyed and showing it.

"Well, when the buildings moved earlier wasn't there a warning bell?

Why don't we just tap into that line and call out to them? They would come, wouldn't they?" Matsuda asked. Everyone blinked at him and went very quiet. That… could actually work. It wasn't a bad idea. Not a bad idea at all. Raito was suddenly kicking himself for not thinking of that. You knew things were seriously wrong when _Matsuda_ outsmarted you.

"A wonderful idea indeed--if it could actually work." A monotone voice was heard. The men turned around only to see Logic and Reason standing at the open door.

"Unfortunately, there is no way to 'tap' into the alarms here. They are not connected to any system. It's a completely independent and automatic system." Reason said (or Logic, either way).

"Oh." Matsuda said.

"It's all right. Half of them wouldn't have come anyway." The twins said in unison, passing the group and heading down the stairs. They walked just like L, however it was a much more stiff and robotic stride then the smooth glide the detective walked in (even with his hunch). The team followed, now used to just going along in whatever direction they were told to go without asking questions.

"Do we have a plan? A way to search for the other, uh, personalities?" Soichiro asked as they began their descent to the marble ground.

"No," came the simple answer. "There is no way to know where any of the other personalities are. They move around the mind too much. Never staying in one place for too long," one of the twins said. "And there is no way to try moving in a coordinated pattern since the warning bells can go off at any minute and we'll just have to start from scratch." The other said." And splitting up is out of question. So, to answer your original inquiry, we will be searching blindly every corner we go and leaving the rest to luck." Both answered in signal monotone voice.

That… was not a very good plan. Raito rubbed at his forehead with his free hand. But of course, L just loved to make everything so hard for him, didn't he?

They finally got to the ground and as they walked Raito once again tried to get Child-ness off him (gently of course) but the boy only made a displeased sound and buried his face deeper into the teen's shoulder. Raito sighed and patted the boy's back, unconsciously he starting to play with the boys hair.

"Good to see that you two finally hit it off." Happiness' voice called from behind his back, startling him so much he almost dropped mini-L.

"Sorry. But for a while there I thought I would have to put up with the constant bickering of two of the most childish people I know." Happiness said, then winked at him. Raito cleared his throat, lifting the boy up a bit trying to get more comfortable. They continued walking towards People's Plaza.

"It must be really difficult for all of you to be constantly, uh, 'locked away' by those two, isn't it?" The teen asked after the silence began to become too uncomfortable to bear. Raito couldn't help but glare at the backs of said personalities, who were at the head of the group, in the lead.

"Yes. But there's not much we can do about that. We can't change who we are, and unfortunately this is the person L is, cold and logical. So they're not going anywhere any time soon." The yellow-eyed man sighed, shoving a hand through his hair. "But neither are we. Still, the problem was never the fact that they are in command. The problem is that they don't accept suggestions from anyone because we are 'useless, implosive and will get us all killed'." Happiness said, his voice going dull and monotonous at the end as he quoted the other personalities.

The man looked sadly at Love, Raito followed suit. The scared man was walking next to Matsuda, quietly listening as the man chatted on. Raito felt a pain at the sight for some reason. He wasn't sure what it was but the sound of the personalities' ball and chain dragging on the floor pulled at his heart strings.

"Don't get me wrong, Raito-kun. There is nothing in life I love more then being a detective. Really. Life was never that appealing, so dull and easy. Working on cases is what keeps our mind sharp and us from dying of boredom. You understand that feeling, don't you Raito-kun?" Happiness asked, peering at him from the corner of his eye.

Yes. Raito knew the feeling all to well, having spent his whole life looking for something, anything, to alleviate his boredom; to prevent his brain from melting inside his head. He tried everything: video games, books, going out with friends, going out with girls, taking up hobbies. You had to see some of the things he tried before deciding on tennis. Chess, card games, watching TV, photoset, music (he tried singing, he sucked) painting and art in general (he sucked at that too. Really badly. He couldn't even get his stick fingers to look… well, stick-like.), he even tried stamp collecting for god's sake! It came to the point where he would give anything, do anything, to alleviate his boredom.

Anything.

Soon he just gave up and studied himself to death. Creating someone so perfect that no one could see how he utterly hated everyone around him and how much he really didn't care. The world was a rotten place, and slowly, Raito felt like he was rotting with it. Unable to escape the monotonous circle that was his life. All he could do was watch, powerless, and rot with it. That's why Kira's ideals didn't seem as cruel as the world made them out to be. He was trying to make things better, that counted for something, didn't it?

Happiness continued. "It doesn't matter though. Having all of this means nothing if you don't let yourself feel. A man in the desert, with all the water he can drink, will still die of hunger. How can you go through life with your feelings in a bottle? Look at him, Raito. How can you say you have really been happy when Love looks like that? I'm worried that if our job doesn't kill us the stress and loneliness will. It's a lose-lose situation, Raito-kun, and I hate losing. It drives me insane. It's like I'm fighting this alone." As he said that he never once looked away from Love, sounding very tired.

The teen stared at the man next to him. L. He didn't know what to say. What could he say? 'Sorry your life is miserable, and you can't do a thing about it because no one will let you'? Yeah, no. Raito turned his attention back to Love. That feeling twisted in his gut again.

"A lot of this I blame on our childhood." Happiness said off handedly. This got Raito's attention instantly. He felt Child-like's hands fist his shirt but he did not move. If there was any thing he wanted to hear, it would be about L's childhood. What happened then would have molded the detective into the man he saw today.

"Why?" Raito asked, mouth going dry with excitement.

"Well, its just that--" Happiness cut himself off when two hands landed on each of his shoulders and Logic and Reason's faces appeared next to him. The man went very stiff.

"Oh, I'm sure our guests won't be the least bit interested in such tedious sob stories. There is no reason for you to bore them, now is there, my dear Happiness?" Reason (or Logic) said dully next to Happiness' ear.

"Speak for yourself!" the yellow-eyed man yelled, glaring and yanking himself free from the other two's grip. All three stared at each other for awhile.

"So rude. Yagami-san, I'm sure you are not interested in such a thing? Are you?" Logic asked, a tone of warning in his monotone.

"Uh, I--" thankfully Raito was interrupted by Love's answer.

"Leave the poor kid alone. We should start looking instead of fighting over such trivial things." Love said softly, putting his own hand on one of the twin's shoulders. The twins stared him down with cold, half-lidded eyes. Love just offered them his terminal illness smile. Finally, both just walked off without saying a word.

Love looked over to Raito, smiling, then walked after them. All Raito could do was swallow thickly and trail along after them. At some point everyone had stopped walking to watch things unfold. It seemed like Raito wasn't the only one interested in discovering L's childhood.

Silence overcame the group once more. It was a heavy silence, the type people are afraid to break. As the men almost reached the plaza Child-ness finally lifted his head off Raito's shoulder and spoke for the first time since living the Hall.

"Shouldn't we show them where to go after we find everyone?" He asked.

Logic and Reason stopped once more, causing the others to stop with them. They then turned their heads in unison to look at them. "Why? It will just take up more time." They said together.

"In case something happens. Wouldn't it be a good idea if everyone knew where to go?" mini-L answered.

"I think that would be a good idea. It's good to have a backup plan and a place where everyone can find to meet if something happens." Soichiro mused out loud. The rest of the team murmured in agreement. The twins looked on for a few moments before sighing as one. "Very well then. If it pleases you." They then turned and started walking to the little Greek-style building in front of the Hall. The men followed behind. It was a short while before they reached the building. Then the men climbed the three steps to the entrance and passed the rectangular hole to go in.

The inside of the small building was so white it hurt Raito's eyes. All was marble, the floor, the ceiling and the walls. The walls, however, did have patterns carved into them and the pillars holding the ceiling up were the same inside as outside. The room was incredibly small, only half a courtyard long. At the end of it was a staircase of about twelve steps with a large marble thorn at its top. At the foot of the steps was a rectangular marble block. On its sides it had the same pattern as the walls and on top of it was the only thing with any color in whole room (other than them). L.

"This is the location we shall be returning to at the end of our journey." The twins said, but Raito ignored them. He walked over to the marble block. On the block was L. Honest-to-god L. No differently colored shirt, no differences in appearance, no anything. It was just L in his white shirt, blue jeans and black hair. He lay stretched out on the block perfectly still. The only thing moving was his chest as he breathed. Really, the only different thing was that his eyes were closed.

"It's L." Matsuda said next to him. The group had gathered around the sleeping detective.

"Not quite." Logic said. (err, it was Logic right?)

"What do you mean?" Aizawa sighed. The answer 'not quite' was starting to get on his nerves.

"That's not L. we are L. That is just an empty shell. It's just a

puppet to demonstrate what is happening to L in the 'real' world." The twins replied, pointing to themselves, Love, Happiness and Child-ness as 'we'.

"It may not seem, but together (unfortunately) we complete each other. Together we are L." Happiness cut in.

"Oh," was the only reply. The team then just continued to watch the detective, I mean, the detective's 'shell'. Raito especially couldn't keep his eyes off the man.

This only made him want to see the original again. The man's body was so still. His skin almost blended in with the marble he lay on. Raito had the urge to touch him. To run his fingers over that skin to see if it really was as smooth as the marble it was on…to see if the skin was as soft as Love was.

Raito shook his head, trying to get rid of such thoughts (that were starting to pop up too often in his head for comfort.) Seeing the detective like this was scrambling his brain. He looked so venerable, so open to attacks when he wasn't scrunched up in his protective ball. Raito suddenly had the feeling he was looking into an open coffin: staring down at the dead body of the great L. That's what it felt like when the man laid there so still. He had never really seen the detective actually sleep. He sometimes saw the man nap in his seat after hours, but never lie down on a bed to sleep. To him, the detective never really rested, always awake, always active ( Justice never slept). His mind was forever on the run. He wasn't sure how he felt about the man's death. Most of him felt quite terrified of seeing him dead. Most of him wanted the man to live forever like anyone who cared for a loved one would, but… then there was that little voice. That small faint voice that told him he wanted to laugh and dance on the man's grave. That voice was starting to scare him. It scared him because it was getting louder and louder and he wasn't doing any thing to stop it. It was like his mind was splitting in two. So, to settle things, he went with 'not wanting L dead'. It was the one voice that screamed the loudest to him anyway.

He suddenly was overcome with a sense of want. He wanted to get out of here; as far away from Logic and Reason as possible. He wanted to be with Ryuzaki at HQ again. Where L was L and not 12 pieces of a puzzle that he had to hunt down and put back together again. He wanted L. the whole L.

He wanted L….

Raito jolted, startling mini-L who was still in his arms. Wait! That didn't come out right! He wanted to be with L… no! Wait, that didn't come out right either! Raito looked back down at L, and realized that… he did. He wanted L. He wanted to be with him. He did. That's why everything here was driving him up the walls. He liked L. That's why Love bothered him. That's why he didn't mind Child-like hanging off of him like jewelry. That's why… everything else! Because he wanted to be with L. Raito closed his eyes. Oh man, when did that happen? Now Raito really came to understand the word epiphany at a personal level. That electric shock must have really messed up his brain somewhere…

Oh, whom was he kidding? This probably had started months ago, and only now he came to actually notice what was happening. Some genius he was…

"Son? Are you feeling all right?" he heard his father ask, and openedhis eyes only to find everyone staring at him. Oh, great. Just great. Now he felt embarrassed as well.

"Yeah dad, I just had an epiphany. That's all." He replied.

"Oh… What was it about that it startled you so much?" Oh nothing dad. He just found out that maybe, just maybe, he could possibly be a homosexual. And that the man he had feelings for was the man who accuses him daily of heartlessly killing millions of people and had locked him up in a cell for 50 days. Nothing out of the ordinary, right? Nothing you should worry your little, old fashioned mind with.

"Nothing that important dad. We should really start heading out. I think we've spent enough time here." Raito replied.

"Agreed." Logic and Reason said, and started heading for the door. His father nodded, accepting his son's half-assed answer and followed the personalities. The others trailed behind their chief, that is, except for Matsuda. The man stayed behind, a worried look on his face.

"Are you sure you're all right Raito? You've been acting weird ever since we got here." Matsuda asked, real worry coloring his tone. Oh, not Matsuda. Why did it have to be Matsuda? He wasn't sure his pride could take such a blow. "Yes Matsuda, I'm sure. It's just this whole situation. It's beginning to catch up with me."

"If you say so." Matsuda said (not buying it for one second, but letting it go anyway), his lip curving down before he walked off to join the others. The teen gave a deep sigh (in relief or exasperation, he wasn't sure) Then looked back at the detective. He made sure everyone else had left and he was alone (well, not alone, mini-L was still there, but he was incredibly quiet and his face was back to being buried at the crook of his neck) he slowly took hold of L's hand. Light caressed his thumb over the top of it slowly. He smiled.

Smooth.

Ok, so maybe he liked L. Big deal. It was probably just a schoolboy crush. This was the first time he had ever met anyone that was so much like he himself; someone with so much in common. It was normal that he would be attracted to that, right? I mean, it was just so new to have someone he actually liked being around. (Other than his family, but they didn't count.). It was just so easy to be around the man (when they weren't fighting… or he was accusing him of being Kira… or when he was spitting out percentages…) of course he would have a silly little teenage crush. It's not like he loved the man or anything.

….

….

Right?

Of course not! He barely knew the man! Ha! Love? What a joke. He'd never loved before, why would he start now? Raito then noticed that he had been holding the man's hand the whole time and quickly let go. This was so stupid.

"We really should be going Raito. They're leaving without us." Came the boyish voice from his shoulder. Ratio's body tensed. Did the boy

see anything? He looked over at mini-L, who was peering up at him insolently, head to the side. Apparently not… The boy then hopped out of his arms, looking up at him before he grabbed his hand and started dragging him along behind him. "Come on Raitoooo." He whined, pulling at his hand harder. Raito followed behind silently. He couldn't help but look back at L's despairing form as they left. The man's chest slowly rose and fell in the distance.

It's not like it was love.


	7. Red

WOW! 57 reviews! Hot damn! I must be doing something right! I love you all sooooo much! Thank you thank you! I like this chapter. I've been wanting to write it foreverrrrr. It didn't come out how I thought it would but it did came out pretty good… I think so at lest….

Thank you to my beta and to you my wonderful reviewers. I like to thank Ruina Magnacarta for actually writing a review in English and Spanish! (Since I can't set a hold of her any other way…) however, I'm not Spanish, I'm actually Brazilian. It is easy to confuse the two because both do sound the same and you kinda write it the same… well not really but if you don't know the difference it _is _easy to confuse. But thank you any way! That was very sweet!

Warnings: language. I'm personally not too big on swearing but oh well… oh, and Kira believers beware.

REVIEW!!!!

Red

"There is a thin line between love and hate."

Raito didn't know how long it had been since they had left the hall and the house with L's 'sell' in it, but one thing for sure, it was a long time ago. A really long time ago. How did he know that? He didn't. But if the pain in his legs was anything to go by, then he was right. And he was pretty sure he'd seen that skyscraper before… twice.

* * *

This was getting tiring. All they seemed to do was walk. He had asked Logic and Reason if it would be a good idea to check in the buildings, but they'd refused. They said, "There is no reason to do so. Not many of them like the buildings, and if they were in there, we would know. Emotions are not discrete Yagami-kun." So they left it at that.

Now the task force was taking a break. Most of them weren't as young as they liked to think. It was not like Raito was complaining though. He was pretty tired himself.

* * *

This was their fifth break and still no sign of any other emotions whatsoever. The team was tired and showed it. Raito knew this because he was there sitting next to his father and Matsuda. Well, sitting next to his father since Matsuda was actually lying next to him, staring up at the white sky. Mini-L was lying down too, his head on the young cop's stomach.

Aizawa and Mogi were leaning up against a nearby building. Happiness was trying to glare Logic and Reason down (both who were ignoring him completely). Love was standing in the middle of the marble street, head tilted upwards, eyes closed, and with a small smile on his face. Raito imagined what he was thinking.

The teen licked his lips. He was having trouble sorting out his crush. Had he ever felt like this before? … Well, there was that one girl in high school. She was supposed to be one of the quiet types, the ones that always had a book at hand. She had thick black hair and pale white skin. But what Raito really liked about her was her green eyes. She was pretty. Not beautiful, but pretty.

This was when he first began high school. He only had one class with her. He spent half of the term harvesting his feelings until he got courage to ask her out. You maybe think 'Yagami Raito? Afraid of asking someone out? Bullshit' but the truth was, she was the first girl he'd ever walked up to and asked on a date. That was because all of the other times it was the girls the asked him out. It was the first time he asked a girl out ... and also the last. The date was a nightmare. Not only did he pay for everything but he found out that the girl he crushed on for so long wasn't quiet and sweet. She was loud, obnoxious and had a tongue that could talk faster than he could think (and that was _fast_). On top of it all, he also found out that the only reason she always had a book at hand was because she put magazines in it to read during class. In short, he had put the girl so high up on his imaginary pedestal that it came as no surprise (now) that she fell so far down when he actually met her.

He only started asking girls out after getting into university after that fiasco.

With L it was completely different though. He couldn't put him on a pedestal, because, quite frankly, at first glance he would have thought him a to be homeless person. Not exactly dating material … With L, the only way for one to actually like him is to actually meet him (even though he _is_ one of those people who only get stranger the more you know them…). L was completely different from that girl in high school, because he had something under the surface. In fact, he had a lot under the surface. Even now, when the teen was literally sitting in the man's mind, he was still imagining what was going on in the man's head.

If that wasn't deep, he didn't know what was…

Maybe that's why he didn't mind that L was a man. He was so desperate for something deeper--someone that could hold his attention without bending over and showing him more than he was supposed to see. (…Though he wouldn't have minded if L did the same…) Not that women couldn't be interesting and fascinating with depth and intelligence. He just hadn't had the pleasure to meet a woman like that yet.

The teen sighed. He needed more than just Misa-type women. He needed real women-women.

…

… Or L. Or maybe he needed L.

Raito blushed. Ok, maybe he didn't _need,_ need L. I mean, he needed L but not need-need him… okay, now he was confusing himself. Did he need L as in… you know, _need_, or need as in lo-

"Did anyone hear that?" Raito's inner-monologue was cut short as Matsuda sat up, looking around. For a minute the teen was afraid that he was thinking so loudly that the others could actually hear him. That is, until he remembered that was a stupid idea.

"Hear what, Matsuda." Aizawa growled unhappily from against his wall. He had an arm thrown over his eyes and all his body weight was being supported by said wall.

"That. Don't you hear it? It's a thump, thump, thumping sound. Look, look! I hear it again. Listen." Matsuda went quiet, cupping a hand over his ear. Mini-L sat up and mimicked him.

Everyone was silent for a moment. Until…

…Thump…

…Thump…

…Thump…

"I hear it!" Raito exclaimed. Without thinking, the teen got up and followed the sound. He walked a few meters then turned a few corners, trying to find where the sound was the loudest.

Soon the brunet found himself in front of a building (one that looked exactly like the one next to it, and the one next to that.) this was where the noise was coming from. He was going to open the large glass door when Logic and Reason beat him to it. Pushing him aside and opening it themselves.

They all walked in.

Raito didn't remember the last building they were in. (something about it moving around must have distracted him). But he was sure this was not what they looked like normally. In short, the place was trashed. Any and all furniture was broken in half or turned upside down or simply ripped to shreds. Any items there were had all been smashed with pieces spread all over the room. There was a stress dummy in one corner and a punching bag hanging from the ceiling, bolted into the glass. It looked heavy and was dark brown in color, around 2 meters long. It hung in the middle of the far corner.

But what Raito was really looking at was the man in the red shirt that was stomping about the room, muttering angrily to himself. The man stopped, than did a roundhouse kick, slamming his heal into the punching bag. The man got up. Caught his breath…Then started to repeatedly slam his foot into the bag. It made _thump_, _thump_, _thump_ sounds.

"Looks like we found Anger…" Love said softly beside him. His voice seemed to crack a bit. This alone worried Raito.

"DAMN IT ALL! DAMN IT ALL TO HELL!" Anger yelled, turning in a huff. That is when he caught sight of the group standing at the door and Raito was able to see him fully.

Just like the rest, his shirt was also of a different color, the color of freshly spilled blood that made his skin look ten times the deathly pale shade it already was. His hair was much wilder than the detective's. It stuck out in every which way and was almost standing up in perfect spikes off his head. It was like the man had taken a shower then stuck his finger in an open outlet to dry himself off. But his eyes, his eyes were what really got Raito's attention.

They were red, a red that was more than blood but less than scarlet. And they were filled with… Raito wanted to say passion, but that wasn't it. It was like looking into fire. They burnt with fury. It really freaked him out. However, if he had to choose between Anger's eyes and the eyes of Logic and Reason, Raito would choose Anger's in an instant. The man's eyes may have been creepy but the twins where downright freaky. At least Anger's eyes burned with something. The twins had nothing, nothing but gray… Nothing.

Raito guessed that it was just the color which was really bothering him. He didn't like red eyes; they seemed to send extra shivers down his spine that had nothing to do with the intensity Anger was expressing through them.

They were eyes that belong to monster.

Not that Raito believed in such things as monsters…

The red-eyed man scanned over the group but surprisingly he zeroed in on Love. "What are you doing here?" He snarled.

"I know. I'm sorry. I just-" Anger cut him off. "I don't care for your excuses! Get out!" The personality growled out.

"Hey! What did he ever do to you?" Matsuda jumped in, shielding Love with his body. One glare sent Matsuda's knees knocking but the man stubbornly kept his stand.

"Its all right Matsuda-kun, you-" Love began saying, putting a hand on Matsuda's shoulder, trying to move him out of the way. He was cut off once more.

"It is none of you business how I talk to him. You have no reason to be butting in Matsuda." Anger hissed.

"Please don't fight. There is no reason to be so-" Love seemed to be getting exasperated. That's when Raito decided to step in.

"Hey, you don't have to be so ill-mannered. You don't even know what is going on." Raito said.

"Oh, oh this is rich. Little Kira is trying to teach me how to treat people, is he now? Well that's a laugh!" Anger scoffed, turning around to go give a powerful kick to the punching bag. Raito winced at the loud thud that came from the bag. He had been on the receiving end of those kicks and he knew how powerful and painful they could be. He felt very sorry for that poor defenseless inanimate object.

However, he felt rather offended by the man's comment. "How many damn times do I have to tell you I'm not Kira!? Your constant accusations are beginning to get annoying!" Raito growled out.

However, he soon regretted his comment. For as soon as his harmless words came out of his mouth Anger's shoulders tensed and squared.

"Oh dear." Murmured Love.

"Wrong thing to say…"--Happiness.

"Eep." Child-ness squeaked.

"Idiot." Logic and Reason chorused.

Anger turned, his mouth twisted into a creepy smile and a slight mad glitter in his eyes. "Oh, little Raito wants to talk to me about annoyances? Do you Kira-kun? Well, let's talk annoyance." Anger slowly walked forward as he talked, causing Raito to walk back until he hit the wall behind him. Anger was almost pinning him to the wall, face inches away from him.

The red-eyed man leaned back. "Where should I start? Hmmm." Anger had a thoughtful look on his face. Then his expression changed, lips turning down. "Let's start with the fact that no one believes me!" He twisted around to yell that to the task force.

He stomped over to the stunned man. "This whole case is like having a giant pink elephant in the room, and not only do I have to prove it's there, but that it's pink and that it's an elephant! But of course, dear little Raito-kun isn't Kira, how could he be? Dear, sweet, Raito? Have even a single evil bone his little, innocent, perfect body? Bullshit! It's not like I know what the hell I'm talking about, _right._ Because solving 2,999 of the hardest cases on earth hardly means I know what I'm doing during an investigation, right?" Anger shouted at the wide-eyed men's faces. "RIGHT!"

Anger turned again. "Of course not! 'Ryuzaki is a pervert', 'Ryuzaki is a pedophile', 'Ryuzaki just loves being chained to mass murderers; it's his favorite pass-time!' He just loooooves social company! He loves spending every minute of every day constantly in the presence of people! It's not like he's putting himself in danger! Noooo. It's not like he spends his free time thinking 'there is so much that can go wrong with this… will he kill me while I sleep? Will he find something to blackmail me with? Am I really going to die at 24!?' But nooooo. Ryuzaki loves being chained to Kira, right! It's poor innocent Raito we have to worry about. He has to spend every minute of every day with that, with that, FREAK!" Anger was breathing heavily now. The Task force just continued to stare wide eyed at him, frozen in place.

Anger stomped over to the other side of the room. He picked something off the floor and threw it with great force against a wall. It must have been glass, because it broke into a million pieces. He faced the team and Raito again, eyes ablaze.

Anger shoved a hand through his spiked hair. "But of course, why should you believe me? I'm just a stranger that walked into your life and accused someone you 'knew' since birth to be a world-wide killer. It's a strange, untrusting man's word against the Chief of Police's son. How can I compete with that? It doesn't mater how many cases I've solved, or the titles I have. I'm just a faceless name accusing a teenage boy of homicide. A boy you've known for 17 years. When you only known me, what? Seven months give or take. I can't compete with that." The man spat; the silence was so thick it was suffocating.

Anger rubbed his forehead, seeming more tired now than angry. He walked towards his punching bag and started kicking the stuffing out of it, occasionally throwing a punch in. The men turned to each other, not knowing what to say. The other personalities didn't move.

"You know what else is infuriating?" Anger's voice came out from between hits to the bag. "That I have spent my whole life climbing-" punch, "to where I am. Six months just to start my career as a detective. Just to get the local police to-" hard kick, "even listen to me; to give me my first case. Two-" kick, kick, kick, "fucking years for me to be respected world-wide and create a big enough name for myself-" slam with a heel, "to actually have cases coming in from around the world." Punch. "And spending the rest of my miserable life defending my name to the point where people can actually begin to call me--" _slam slam slam_, "the fucking greatest detective in the world." Anger stopped fighting the bag, which was now swinging dangerously around, the ceiling actually cracked under the pressure.

"And all Kira had to do was kill a few criminals to be called God!" Anger threw back his had and laughed, sounding maniacal, desperate. He then stopped abruptly and started scrubbing his hair violently, making even bigger of a mess of it.

He stopped and looked up. "Oh, but I don't blame humanity. People are desperate for guidance. For hope. They want a God, they need a God. They want salvation. They know the planet is fucked up. I don't blame humanity. I blame Kira." He was looking directly at Raito.

"He thinks he sees the big picture. He thinks he can save the world. But his views are naive and his means despicable." Anger hissed out.

Up until now, Raito had been quiet. Quite frankly he had been too afraid to talk. He never imagined L to have strong feelings over the case. He never imagined L to have feelings. Who knew? But now, for some reason, what he said hit a nerve. And that little faint voice in his head didn't seem faint at all. In fact, it was screaming.

Maybe that's why he decided to argue back

"It's not naive! What is wrong with trying to make the world a better place!? His means might be unorthodox but so are yours! You can't deny crime rates have been falling all over the world. I should know, I've been making and reading though damn charts for weeks!" Raito yelled back.

"Don't you think that if that actually worked I would have been killing them off myself!?" Anger screeched back, making Raito take a step back, stunned.

"Raito, I spend my whole life putting away the worst scum on earth. Don't you think that the idea of killing them all off didn't run through my head at least once? Don't you think that having to sit and hear a mother cry over the complete slaughter of her family and listen to how she herself had been raped by the perpetrator; do you think I didn't feel like putting a bullet through the bastard's head myself!? Don't you think I have never had the thought that the world would be better off without this filth polluting it!?" Anger yelled, eyes redder than before. His face began to turn the same color as his eyes.

Raito swallowed, ignoring the voice in his head just for a minute. Saliva wasn't there, since his mouth was so dry. "So, why don't you?"

Anger smiled acidly. "It wouldn't work." He turned around to go pick something else up from the floor.

"How do you know? You've never tried! You can't ignore the-"

"BECAUSE IT DOSEN'T WORK!" Anger cut him off, throwing whatever was in his hand and watching it crash. "Do you really want to rid the world of crime Raito?" Anger asked. Raito nodded hesitantly, doing his best to hold his tongue.

"Tough luck kid. It's not going to happen." Anger said, going to kick his punching bag again.

"What do you mean? Of course with that nega-"

"And you complain when I accuse you of being Kira?" Raito snapped his mouth shut. "There is evil in everyone Raito. That's what you, Kira and millions of people wish to ignore. Killing off convicted felons wouldn't do a thing. There's evil in me, you, your father and even Matsuda. Its a part of humanity. Evil isn't a disease. It can't be cured or eliminated."

Raito didn't have an answer to that. He wanted, oh how he wanted to tell him, no, there is no evil in me. But as that little (not so) faint voice continued to rabidly rant in his head, he knew he couldn't. He couldn't say it. Even though he wanted to.

"Do you really want to save the world? Stop cutting off the top and go to the root of the problem. Go to why people commit crime. Give people education. Give people opportunity. Give people hope. They don't need a maniac trying to scare them straight, to try to scare them into 'good', to trying to take over the world. Humanity doesn't respond well to dictatorship Raito, they never did. You can see that throughout history how these sort of things end."

"I wouldn't call it a dictato-"

"Oh? So what do you call all the power concentrated on a single person then? That is why this whole thing is so naive. There are just so many things that can go wrong. Dictatorship doesn't work. Power was never meant to be concentrated all on one person. People don't handle power well. It is just too easy to be corrupted."

"You're L! You basically used to be the most powerful man on earth!"

Anger smiled his acid smile. "Used to? I guess I can't compete with supernatural killings now can I?" Anger shook his head. "I think you got the wrong impression of me, Raito-kun. I have all power and no power at all. I can move police from around the world yet I am but a mere tool to them. I do my best to give all the evidence to condemn those who should be condemned but my 'power' won't go much further. I'm no judge, I'm no politician or governor; I'm just one very intelligent man doing his best to put criminals in jail and keep innocents out of them."

"But what about the prison break-outs!? And the criminals that continue to control their mobs on the outside from inside? How can you say that the death penalty can't terminate all those problems? More than half of the criminals which are realesed just commit the crime again!"

"It's like trying to break a brick wall with a rubber bat when it comes to arguing with you, isn't it Raito? It all bounces right off." Anger said irritably, rolling his eyes.

"Does it really mater, you speak as if when a person dies their ideals die with them. You act like no one else thinks the same way. Like no one else will think the same way. Do you think Kira's ideals will die off with him? No, the damage has been done. Now the moment Kira disappears we will only have a new cult, much like the skinheads."

"…No."

"Face it Raito. Kira has missed too many variables. He is working with the belief that the world is perfect. No, better yet, that he can make the world perfect. He doesn't think of things like what will happen if he really achieves his goals, what will happen after he dies? Because he will die one day. What will happen if his power is stolen and used against him? He acts like I'm the only threat to him. What? Is there no one else who will be capable of continuing if I fail? There are six billion people on this planet Raito. I'm hardly the only genies. Will humanity actually accept him as a leader after a few years? It only takes one person's doubt to infect a million. People are so different, Raito. That's why there is no such thing as unity, equality. Communism. We have such different opinions on the same subject… you could never controlled the whole world. Someone, anyone, will stand against your ideals because we all have a different opinion of what is correct."

Raito's shoulders sagged. This was too much. It was like he was sitting in a thunderstorm. L's words were clashing with his own ideals, and the voice in his head had become so violent it was giving him a migraine. "But-but the Justice system is so flawed…" he managed feebly. He felt like his head was going to burst.

"That's just because humanity is flawed. However, it's constantly changing, just like us. We've come a long way since cavemen ages ago, Raito. What keeps my hopes up is the fact that we keep trying to make it better, to make ourselves better.

Raito rubbed at his temples. Fuck, his head hurt. Why did what L says make so much sense and yet sound completely ludicrous? He was wrong. He knew L was wrong, but… but, it made so much sense…

"And you ask me why you are being accused? Raito, this whole discussion should be proof enough! But it's not just your beliefs, no, it's the way you act, the way you are, everything. Everything points so clearly to Kira! Why is it that only I can see it!? You are Kira, Raito, admit it!"

Oh this was just too much! He couldn't take it anymore! L's words made so much sense yet Raito knew he was wrong. Why wouldn't everybody just shut up!? "WHY DO YOU HATE ME SO MUCH?" Raito didn't know where this came from. He was just as stunned as the rest of the team when the words rolled out of his mouth. He couldn't take it. It was like he was fighting himself and L at the same time. For the second time that day, Anger tensed, but this time he tensed so much it looked like his body would snap.

With no warning at all, Raito found him self pinned up against the wall, feet dangling inches from the floor as Anger held him from the front of his shirt. The man's face was twisted once more, eyes flaming again.

"That's the whole, damn, fucking problem! I don't hate you! I CAN'T HATE YOU! I can't! No mater what you do, what you say! I can't bring myself to hate you!" Anger shouted at him, shaking him as he did. "I can't hate you because, because- ARGHH!!!" Anger threw Raito the side, running and throwing such a powerful kick at the punching bag that the ceiling couldn't support it and cracked, breaking. The bag fell to the floor.

The red-eyed man stomped past the team, pushing them out of the way as he tried to get to the door. "Get out of my way!" Then he was gone.

No one moved. The only sound was the sound of falling glass pieces making their way to the ground. Raito just stared blankly up at the ceiling, lying on his back where he fell.

No one no noticed Love slipping out silently behind Anger.

Slowly, Happiness walked over to Raito, going to help him up. Soon Matsuda and Soichiro went over to help. Even after Raito was on his feet no one said a thing. Boy did he feel dizzy. All they did was look at each other, seemingly at a loss.

"You know." Reason said slowly. "We do need everyone, and that includes Anger. This might be the last time we see him, if we don't follow him." The minute the words were out of the personality's mouth it was like a switch had been turned on. Everyone sprung into action.

Soon the men were out the door and onto the street, Happiness in the lead. "He can't have gone far! If we hurry we might find him!" The yellow-eyed man yelled, rushing down the street.

The men followed, and just as they were about to round the corner Child-ness' voice asked, "Where's Love?"

No time to even register what the boy said. The group rounded the corner to find the two missing personalities. Love was on his back, arms up in a feeble attempt to defend his face. Anger straddled his chest, knees squeezing the other's sides, keeping him in place, as he brought down his fists to punch at the scarred man's face.

Without thinking Raito did the first thing that came to mind. He charged forward and kicked Anger straight in the chest.

The man flow off Love and was quickly grabbed by Aizawa and Mogi as he struggled to get free. "Let go! LET GO!" Anger screamed as thrashed about.

Raito positioned himself protectively over Love, dimly noticing Matsuda do the same. "Please do as he asks." Came a soft plead from behind him. Raito turned, astonished, to Love. The man was leaning himself up on one of his elbows, mouth and nose bleeding from the punching he received to his face.

"NO! Are you insane? He is obviously dangerous and-" Aizawa began to say but Love would have none of it.

"_Please_." He asked again. Aizawa and Mogi shared a worried Look, but hesitantly did as asked. Anger wrenched himself from their grip, but his eye were only for Love.

Both locked eyes, staring each other down. Finally, Love looked away, turning his attention to the floor.

"I hate you." Anger said with such hate, Raito felt a shiver run down his spine.

"I know." Came the soft, simple reply.

Anger shook him head, turning his back to Love. "Fuck this shit." He walked off, but this time no one tried to stop him.

Raito and Matsuda helped Love sit up. He looked thankfully at them before using the sleeve of his already ratty pink shirt to wipe off the blood from his face. He winced slightly as he brushed over his split lip, staining his sleeves with blood.

Raito suddenly had the urge to lick at the wound. He mentally hit himself at the inappropriate thought at such a wrong time.

"Is Anger evil?" Matsuda asked quietly, as he brushed off the dirt on Love's shirt.

"No, just confused and implosive." Love said gently, patting Matsuda's hand, even as dark bruises began to appear around his eyes and cheeks.

"Evil can't be separated individually. It's in every emotion. There is crime of passion, crime of logic, crimes that come from prior paranoia, but the most hideous crimes come from pleasure--from people who do it for fun." Logic (maybe?) said. Everyone turned to Happiness.

The man blinked when suddenly put under the spotlight. "Hey! It's not like I'll be going off on a killing spree any time soon! I'm quite happy with putting crimes in jail, not becoming one!" Happiness huffed and crossed his arms over his chest indignantly.

Raito smiled softly at that, but it soon disappeared as the memory of his argument resurfaced. The atmosphere became heavy again.

Until Matsuda's voice came. "… what are we going to do now?"


	8. Dark Green

HOLY CHEESE STICKS! I love you all! So many reviews!

…That said, sorry for the long, long, long…. Yah, I have a bunch of excuses (all the essays I have to do, books I have to read, school is being hell on my free time…) but what's important is that it's up dated and here! YaY! With an impressive 7000 words! Pretty long, uh? (That's what he said!)

...you can't be mad with me! It was my birthday on the 26! (18! yah baby!)

I'm happy with this chapter. It has more humor in it then the other ones… things were getting kind of serious… not that this doesn't have…ah, just read it.

Review me and I'll love you forever! happy new year!

**Dark green**

**You're either very brave or very stupid, there never is a mid-term…**

Raito slowly got up. No one seemed to want to answer Matsuda. The teen offered his hand to Love who gratefully accepted it. Raito tried very hard to ignore the fact that the warm smooth (if you managed to get over the scars) hand felt very comfortable in his own. It fit in just right.

"Should we get you some ice or something? Are we even able to get any ice around here? Do you even need ice?" Matsuda asked, rubbing his upper arm uncertainly, obviously quite nervous.

The bruises on Love's face were beginning to really stand out. They were turning purple and blue, making the already scarred skin of the personality stand out more. His scars became white, angry lines in contrast to his bruises.

"Oh, don't be silly Matsuda-san. It's hardly anything to worry about. I'll be fine," Love said gently, blind eyes looking at him kindly. Raito suddenly felt a pang of jealousy, but quickly squished it away. Raito Yagami? Jealous? And of Matsuda no less! Nope. Not him.

Nope.

Silence enveloped the group of men. They weren't sure what to do next. Eventually, all of them began looking down at the floor, staring at the marble under their feet. No one really knew what to say.

Was it wrong of him not to necessarily want to chase after Anger? He had enough problems as it was, really. With Child-ness practically attached to his hip, barely ever leaving Raito's side, (he wondered what that meant in reference to the detective. The man didn't seem like the type who liked to cling on to people. But after everything that had been going on there… he didn't know what to think of L anymore…) with Happiness constantly fussing over him, Love making him incredibly confused, and Logic and Reason desperate to have a chance alone with him so they could wring his neck. (What better way to stop "Kira" than to stop him permanently and silently? Could you even die here? Raito wasn't keen on finding out…)

Sorry, but was it really all that startling that he didn't want to add a violent, implosive and crazy bastard to his growing list of reasons why he wanted to be back in the 'real' world?

Actually, Raito thought he was being quite reasonable.

It's not like the fact that what the mad (yet strangely insightful) personality said made sense. I mean, it was only a belief Raito had been harboring since childhood. It's not like hearing all those flaws about his own ethics and view of the world being shot so cruelly to the ground… it's not like it bothered him, or shook him to the core. It didn't. It didn't, because how could he be shaken over such nonsense?

…Really.

Raito was never unsure of himself in his life! Why would he start now? Nervous, yes. Bothered, yes. Confused, rarely. (And now was one of those times) But unsure of himself? Nuh-uh. His pride wouldn't allow it. It was just the situation. Yeah. He was feeling himself under pressure (what pressure, he didn't know…) really, if he should be worried about anything it should be that voice in his head.

Now that was something to really worry about. As far as Raito was concerned, disembodied voices in your head were never a good sign. In fact it was a sign of insanity and that was just bad all around… he wasn't insane! He wasn't, damn it! They were only his inner thoughts. They had to be.

…His crazy, bloodthirsty inner thoughts about death, destruction, and the rising of a utopia…

Err. That didn't sound good… no. Was it so wrong to want to ignore this little problem?

Yes. Because it would come back to bite him in the ass…

…

…

Sigh.

"What are we looking at?"

Matsuda let out a high-pitched scream at the sudden break in silence. He tripped over himself and stumbled back into Raito, because right next to him was a new personality.

He was cocking his head from side to side, looking confused--completely indifferent to Matsuda's little sideshow.

"I don't see it. What's so interesting about the floor? It's only marble…" the man asked. He leaned forwarded, squinting, as if trying to see through the floor.

This personality was using a dark green shirt. However, strangely enough, he looked much younger than the other personalities. Not a kid like Child-ness but young enough to look like an adolescent. He looked to be around Raito's age. Face rounder then the detective's and with two bright green eyes that were blinking up at them. His eyes were dark green but much lighter than his shirt. He had the same bands around his wrists as Happiness did.

"Sorry, what?" Matsuda asked, now having composed himself enough to think straight. Really, how was this man a police officer again? He was so easily startled…

The man pointed at the floor. "Well, all of you were looking sooo intensely at the floor that there must be something interesting there, right?" The man went back to staring at the floor, now squatting down to look at it up close.

The team looked at each other, eyebrows raised. "No, we wer--" but Aizawa was interrupted from finishing his sentence by the personality thrusting his hand up and waving it around, in a 'stop talking motion'.

"No, no, no! I can figure it out myself! Don't tell me… maybe if I look at it from a different angle…." He trailed off as he got up and walked to a different spot.

The man stared at the personality weirdly as he continued to squint at the floor, twisting his head from side to side.

All Raito could think of was 'is he serious?'

"Ok, I give up! There is nothing there! It's just marble!" The personality got up and threw his hands in the air, seemingly giving up on finding anything in the plain marble road.

"Of course there isn't anything there! It's just rock! We weren't looking at anything in particular we were just--" Aizawa began ranting about but cut himself off when the green-eyed man hit his fist in his open palm with realization written all over his face.

"Pareidolia! Its pareidolia right!" The personality exclaimed, face bright with excitement.

The men were silent for a moment before Matsuda asked weakly, "Parei-what?"

"Pareidolia, silly! The natural human trait of seeing people and animals' faces in random patterns, blotches and objects! You know? When you look at clouds and think you see objects or animals? That's it, right!?" The green-eyed man explained happily. He then crouched down in L's normal sitting position, squinting once again.

Raito turned to the other personalities, giving them a look of 'who-the-hell-is this-nut?' The others just sighed shaking their heads.

"Uh, Courage, I think you should-" Happiness began saying, before….

"Arnold Schwarzenegger!"

…Before spurting, "What?"

Courage then grabbed the closest person to him-who just happened to be Child-ness-then pointed at the natural gray print on the marble.

"Can't you see it? The strong jawbone. The almost square head. It's Arnold Schwarzenegger if I've ever seen him!" the personality cried happily as he squeezed a rather confused Child-ness closer to him. "Can't you see it?"

"Um, not really…" the boy said quietly, looking up at Courage questioningly.

"No, no, no! Tilt your head this way." He adjusted the boy's head. Child-ness squinted.

"I think I see something." The boy leaned closer, putting his weight on the arms that held him near.

"See!? See!? And over there is Angelina Jolie! See, there are her lips!" Courage then flipped back his lip like a monkey in the zoo, looking expectantly at the others.

The look on the team members' faces was priceless.

Aizawa looked like he was on the verge of murder, Matsuda was leaning in curiously, Soichiro seemed to be between giving a rant or slapping the man upside the head (however was too indecisive so he did neither) and Mogi had his eyebrows so far up his forehead they almost disappeared in his hair.

However Raito's face was the best. His eye kept twitching while his mouth worked without any words coming out.

"Can't you see it?" Courage then grabbed his next closest victim, Mogi, by the wrist and pointed to the very normal marble. "Can't you see it?"

Mogi, obviously trying to humor the man, leaned forward and scrunched up his face. "Sorry, I can't see Jolie-san--" Courage pouted "- but I'm pretty sure that's Jim Carrey," he finished.

The team's mouth dropped open.

"Really? Hmm." Courage crocked his head to the side, so did Child-ness.

"Oh! I love Jim Carrey!" Matsuda cried happily, and then trotted over to join the three to stare at the floor. Raito couldn't believe this. What was wrong with these people?

"Where is he? I don't see him…" Matsuda said disappointedly, leaning over Mogi's shoulder. The quiet man pointed to another spot on the marble.

"That's not Jim Carrey, that's Johnny Depp!" Matsuda said dreamily. The team blinked at him. Okkkkayyy…

"I don't see him, what do you think Aizawa?" Courage asked, directing himself to the afro-haired man. Aizawa just huffed, refusing to respond. Courage blinked but didn't accept being ignored. He marched over and literally dragged the man to the now growing group of men.

"What do you see?" he asked happily.

Aizawa stubbornly ignored him again. However, the personality would have none of it. He literally grabbed the man's head and turned it in the direction of the floor. Aizawa growled but squinted anyway. He frowned.

"Jack Nicholson?" he said uncertainly.

"What? Really!?" both Matsuda and Courage cried in union, running around Aizawa to look at the ground. Aizawa scratched the back of his neck… it kind of looked like Jack Nicholson… just a little.

"I don't know… I think that looks more like Robin Williams. Not Jack Nicholson, don't you think?" Courage asked Matsuda. The young cop twisted his head from side to side.

"Not sure… what do you think Chief?" Matsuda asked, turning to Soichiro. The man blinked then walked over. Raito's mouth fell open. No. You got to be kidding! Not his dad as well!

"DAD! You can't be serious!" the boy yelled in disbelief. This was getting out of hand! Come on, it's rock! There was nothing there!

The man just shrugged. He walked over to Matsuda and peered at the ground. He was quiet for a minute "Frank Sinatra," he said simply.

"Frank Sinatra? Chief, I thought you didn't like any music that wasn't traditional Japanese?" Mogi asked.

"Yes but Frank Sinatra is the exception. His melodic voice can be appreciated by all cultures," Soichiro said very seriously.

It was true. Raito knew his father was a great Frank Sinatra fan. It was the only music he listened to that wasn't from within the county. Even though his English was less than satisfying, his father still appreciated the melody. When he was younger, all Raito heard was Frank Sinatra recordings his father constantly played after work (which he still played). When he first started to learn English his father begged him to translate some of the music. As odd as it seemed Yagami Soichiro was a few steps away from worshiping the ground Frank Sinatra used to walk on.

Soon, the task force began a discussion over what they saw on the plain ground. David Bowie popped up there too. All Raito could do was stare at the men before him. This was ridiculous! All the other personalities seemed to have joined in too. Well all except two…

He turned to the only ones left.

Logic and Reason.

He looked at them pleadingly--a 'make them stop' look. Both of them looked over at him before looking at each other. They then brought up their right hands to their mouths, making an 'o' shape with their fingers, and blew.

The wind was so loud it bounced off the glass walls. The sound was intensified since there were two sources. Raito and anyone else in the radius of five meters covered their ears at the ear-splitting sound.

Soon it stopped. Slowly, hesitantly, the men uncovered their ears and lowered their hands.

"I hope you are all very well done with this foolishness. We still have a job to do," the twins said in union.

Courage looked around. "Are we done?"

The men nodded their heads slowly. Courage put his hands behind his head. "All good." He grinned cheekily.

"Are you sure?" Logic asked, bored.

The green-eyed man looked up, apparently giving it a lot of thought. "Yeah, all good." He grinned widely.

"Well if we are all done with this then we should go after Anger. If we hurry we might still have a 37 percent chance of actually finding him," Reason (Logic?) said lazily before making his way to the front of the group.

"Oh! You guys are looking for him?" Courage said excitedly.

The twins turned around, and though their faces were still impassive and blank you could still clearly see they were thinking the same thing.

Idiot.

"Yes, we seem to just have said that…"

"Oh… well! I saw him walking by a few minutes ago. He sure was angry…err, more than normal, I mean Steaming! Muttering things like 'sniveling brats who don't think things through' and 'surrounded by idiots' and 'hateful Love that doesn't leave me god damn alone'. You know, stuff like that," Courage said cheerfully, rocking back and forth on his feet, hands still clasped behind his head.

"All well and good but where did he go?" Aizawa growled irritably. The green-eyed man blinked at him, as if he thought Aizawa was some sort of moron.

"The Kira building, duh. He's practically living there now. No clues in the investigation? Kira building. Pissed off at a co-worker? Kira building. The milk went bad? Kira building. I swear, every time the man is ready to tear someone's head off he goes there…" The man looked thoughtful.

"Very well. We have our course then." With that the twins started walking again.

"Wait! Is this really such a good idea? I mean after what happened…" Matsuda asked worriedly, eyeing Love.

Both men put their hands to their temples, rubbing them. "We don't really care what happens to you all. But, unfortunately, we are in a position where leaving you running amok would do more damage to us in the long run than you. So really, it's up to you. If you wish to get out, we have to round everyone up, but if your personal feelings are going to interfere, then stay here. As long as you are here when we come back we really don't give a damn what you want," the two said coldly then turned on their heels and walked off.

The team watched them go.

"Gee, I forget how much fun it is to be around those two… really," Courage said sarcastically. "Well, I don't know about you guys but I don't think that leaving them to take care of an emotionally unstable personality would be the brightest of ideas." The men then spread out his arms and made engine noises, apparently pretending to be a plane, and "flew" after Logic and Reason.

The task force stared dumbly ahead as the man zigzagged after the twins before following.

"Uhh, he's… different, isn't he Raito?" Matsuda muttered next to the teen. _Different isn't exactly what I would call THAT_, Raito thought silently. Bat-shit crazy seemed to describe him better… but that was only Raito's own opinion.

"Courage is more than different, and I fear we'll be having more than our fair share of problems with him around…." Happiness sighed, walking beside them.

Matsuda frowned. "Why would you say that? He's a little--" said personality swooped in and made combat noises (apparently now he was a combat plane…) then rushed off, arms still open. "…A little, uh, a little… off. But he can't be _that_ bad…" Matsuda didn't seem too sure of his last sentence as he watched the personality "fly" away.

Raito didn't blame him…

"Ah, yes. But that is because you just met him. Courage is, well, courageous. But he's so much more. He is someone without fear. He doesn't fear public humiliation, what people think of him or threats to his physical well-being. Because of that, he has no stop button. No common sense. No boundaries. He'll cross the line over and over again. You just don't understand the magnitude of a potential disaster this can become…" Happiness said, eyeing the green man wearily.

Raito then noticed that Courage had the same wrist bands that Happiness had on his wrists. However, they seemed thicker and heavier than the ones Happiness had.

"Think of the most annoying 5 year old you have ever met. Now make him 1.79 cm taller, give him a sugar rush, and no rules. That is Courage in a nutshell."

Raito did think of the most annoying five-year-old he had ever met and no matter how bad Courage was, he would never even compete with this kid.

Nelson O'Riley

His parents were Irish but he lived all his life in the United States of America. He was, without a doubt, the most annoying 5 year old Raito had ever met. The most annoying person, actually. He was a transfer student at Raito's Kindergarten. He was the biggest kid in Raito's class and took full advantage of it. He was a bully if Raito had ever met one. No one liked him, not even the teacher. Then again, what did you expect, when he bit her hand so hard she had a scar to prove it?

It must have been the first time Raito was presented with a bully, the first time he was presented with the cruelty of the world. It may sound silly, but that was the first time Raito came to understand that there was something wrong with humanity. He had never been exposed to someone quite like Nelson, before and to his 5 year old brain, he couldn't even begin to fathom why the boy had so much fun kicking sand in the face of his classmates or twisting their arms or stealing their food.

Raito, being a genius, had a lot to be proud of. Entering one of the most prestigious universities with a perfect score or being a tennis champion (his incredible good looks….) hardly scraped on the surface. However, one of the things he tock most pride in, one of his fondest memories, was of Nelson finally pushing him over the edge and him making the boy eat dirt.

He still smiled every time he thought of it.

It was the first time Raito had ever felt like he'd done something to protect his small school community, the first time he'd protected the weak and did what was right.

But that was beside the point. The point was, no one could be as annoying as Nelson… well, maybe an older Nelson could…

They continued to walk in silence. Child-ness started to skip around the three men. The Kira building was getting closer. Raito was thankful that it towered over the other buildings like it did, making life so much easier.

Soon Soichiro joined them. He gave a mindful look to Matsuda who nodded then scampered off to walk near Mogi and Happiness grabbed Child-ness, rushing over to walk close to Love as soon as he noticed the tension in the air.

It didn't take long for Raito and his father to fall to the back of the group. Oh, this couldn't be good… this could only mean one thing…

Father to son talk.

...Yay…

Soichiro was quiet for a while. He seemed to be trying to figure out where to start. Raito fidgeted uneasily.

"Raito, I--son, I…" Soichiro frowned. "I'm sorry," he finally said. Raito blinked dumbly. That… was not how he'd expected this conversation to start…

"…Excuse me?" Raito said. What was going on?

Soichiro continued. "I know I never really was there for you when you were growing up. My job always took so much of my free time away from me. And even when I was home I was never really 'home'. I think that's what really pushed me into asking for your help with all those cases when you were in school. An excuse to be with my son. Because no child should be exposed to things like those no matter how watered down I made them or…"

"Dad?" Raito was feeling very confused right now. Where had all of this come from? What was the point?

The man sighed. "Raito, today I have come to see how far we have grown apart. Raito, when did this ideal of killing criminals start?" his father asked tiredly, as if it was too much to have this conversation with his son.

Oh…

Ohhh. This was about Kira wasn't it? This was about his ideals framing him, wasn't it?

"Dad, this has nothing to do with you."

"Raito! You're being accused of murder! Murder! Of course this has something to do with me! Is it so wrong of me to wish my son not to be a mass murderer?"

"It isn't like that dad! I'm not Kira!"

"Raito! You and Ryuzaki just had a fight over Kira's ideals! This is wearing me out, Raito. I don't know how long I can take this! I don't know what to believe in anymore! Or who to believe in!"

"There are many people out there who believe in the death penalty, dad! What! Just because I'm one of them makes me a murderer?!"

"They are not prime suspects, Raito! You are! "

They had stopped walking now. Father and son eyed each other, breath labored.

"So what? Are you on _his_ side now?"

"No, Raito. If I were to be on anyone's side it would be yours. But this is not about sides. It's not about Justice. It's about us. It's about your family. Raito, I love you. You're my only son. What have I done for all this to have happened?"

_Yeah, you love me enough to point a gun at my head,_ Raito thought bitterly. "Dad, this isn't your fault. You should know better than anyone that I would never kill. It's an ideal, dad. Children never grow up the way their parents plan. Stop blaming yourself for actions that I may or may not take." Raito's shoulders slumped and he looked pleadingly at his father.

"Raito, I--I just don't want this to turn sour in the end. You have such a bright future ahead of you. But you are my son. My pride and joy. I just want what's best for you. But if--if you tell me you're not Kira, I'll--I believe you. Things are just not looking up here Raito…" _Because is it so wrong for a father to wish his son not to be a mass murderer?_ Soichiro thought to himself.

They stared at each other again. Then, slowly, Soichiro walked over to his son. He put his hands on his shoulders. Raito covered them.

"Everything is going to be all right dad. You'll see. We'll get out of here and catch Kira, and everything will be all right again, okay? Stop worrying so much or you'll give yourself another heart attack, okay?" He smiled at his father who returned it weakly, giving a short nod.

The teen wasn't sure if this was a 'hug' moment but… he did it anyway.

"We should probably follow them. We're being left behind," his father whispered.

"Yeah."

Both moved away from each other. They cleared their throats before moving on.

Yeah… everything was going to be okay…

…He hoped.

They made their way back to the group and things were starting to look up.

That is, until Raito felt a pair of arms wrap themselves around his torso, warm breath in his ear, and a body press itself against his back.

Raito stood very still and rigid, face the color of a ripe apple. He did what anyone in his position would do…

He tried to smash all of the jerk's teeth in.

Raito give a powerful punch which caused his body to twist with the force. Unfortunately, he missed, but the perpetrator was revealed. It was Courage.

He doubled his efforts.

However, every time he gave a swing, the man avoided the attack. It was like trying to attack water. He slipped away at the last second. This went on for a while, Raito trying to land a hit and failing miserably and Courage laughing all the way. In the end, the teen gave up and rested his palms against his knees, catching his breath.

Courage laughed, then started prancing around and began to sing: "Missed me! Missed me! Now you have to ki- OW! What was that for?!" Fortunately for Raito (who was getting red in the face again at the suggestive tone of the song) the personality was interrupted by a hit to the back of the head from Logic (or Reason. But who cares? At least he shut up…).

"That is for being an idiot." With that said, they walked off.

"Well, you two aren't a bed of roses to be around either. I've seen bricks with more charm!" The man shook his fist angrily at the retreating backs of the twins, the other rubbing at the back of his head.

He turned to Raito, face splitting into a grin. "Aww, Rai-chan looks so cute like that! Just makes me wanna dip you in chocolate and eat you all up!" Raito backed up at the predatory look in the other's eyes. Cute? Chocolate? RAI-CHAN!? Was this what Happiness had warned him about? And he thought the last two personalities were bad.

"What the hell's wrong with you?! Why did you do that?" Maybe not the most eloquent question but he was freaking out, okay?

"What? Can't a man hug another man now, Rai-chan? And what makes you think you're so special, huh? Maybe I like hugging people! Maybe I'll even hug Aizawa!" The personality turned to said man.

Aizawa had a look on his face that was a cross between absolute fury and complete horror. All in all the general vibe was 'come close to me and die'.

The pair eyed each other for a minute.

"Ok, maybe not… but maybe Rai-chan is special. What? Are you afraid of my friendly man love Raito? Embrace my man love, Rai-chan. Mannnn lovve!" The personality then threw himself at the teen. Raito's eyes widened and he started running for his life… err, maybe not life, but man pride? Plus, it wasn't the best idea to have your crush's crazy personality hugging you with your over-protective father nearby.

This could only end in disaster.

Raito started running circles around the group, afraid of getting lost if he went anywhere else. The nutty personality was still after him with shouts of 'mannnn loooove!'

"What the hell do you think you're doing to my son?!" His father's angry voice came and he joined in on the chase.

"Uhhh..." Matsuda had no idea what to say.

"Oh, this can't be happening." Aizawa groaned.

"…" Mogi just observed, silent as usual.

"Mannnn lovvv- ahg!" The personality's chant was interrupted by Love tackling him to the ground. "Hey! Get off me! I almost had him!" The man struggled in Love's arms trying to reach Raito (who, being very manly) hid behind his father.

"No! It's embarrassing! Please stop. You shouldn't force yourself on him like that. Please, save us some dignity." Love grunted out loud enough to be forceful but his voice was still mellow and soft.

Oh beautiful, merciful Love! Raito couldn't thank the personality enough for 'saving' him from that lunatic…

"Why should I? And what are you saying? You want a piece of that as much as I do." Throes were the magic words. Love released the other as if he was burned.

He looked away. "It's not like that…" The personality seamed to shrink in on itself.

"Ahhahah! You can't hide it! We may be different personalities but we are still the same person. You can't deny it! I know what you want, and you probably want it more than all of us together! You just don't have the balls to get it." Courage came in next to Love's face but still said it loud enough for everyone to hear.

Love's face was as red as Raito's (which clashed rather badly with the bruises). He covered his face with his hands. "It's not like that! It's not. Please stop." The poor man seamed to shrink even more with every word from the other.

"Why? It's all true! You want a slice of Raito pie more than I do! But can you blame him? Mr. and Mrs. Yagami sure know how to back them! Who wouldn't want a slice of Raito pie?!" Courage then began to sing 'Raito pie' over and over again.

"Stop this! Leave him alone!" Happiness cut in, trying to get the other to quiet down. But he wouldn't stop, only chanting louder. Child-ness went over to try and comfort Love.

"Stop this! This is ridiculous!" Happiness seemed exasperated.

"Why should I? You what a piece of Raito pie too! We all do! It's delicious! It's nutritious! It's scrumptious! Raito pie!" The team could only watch, horrified, as Courage continued to sing. Love seemed to be trying to dig a hole to hide in.

Raito himself was stupefied, still red as tomato, but completely in awe at the situation. At least he knew where the detective got his bluntness and bold moves from. No wonder that thing had heavier looking wristbands. Sincerely, Raito was surprised he wasn't chained to a wall! If he was one fifth of the mindless forwardness of that thing was he would be dead!

It looked like it would never end, until Logic and Reason swooped in from seemingly thin air. One swift kick right to the mouth then both of them stomped on the green-eyed man's back. It all seemed a little harsh to Raito, if not a little violent (and scary) but he couldn't say the man didn't deserve it. Both of their faces were still blank and bored.

"OW… that hurt… was that really necessary?" the personality asked from the floor, struggling to get up. He was stomped back to the ground.

"Yes. You obviously don't know how to behave yourself. This was getting out of hand. We had enough." They dug their heels into his back, making him wheeze for breath.

"That's a little extreme…" Happiness murmured. The twins' heads snapped up to look at him.

"You weren't handling the situation so we did. We've had it up to here with foolish games and idiotic delays. Courage needs boundaries and restraints since he has none of his own, and we offer that. If we ever want to get this job over and done with we have to start moving forward and not back." Suddenly one of them pointed at Soichiro.

"You. Stop smothering your son. It's disgusting. He's 18 years old and its time he is able to live his life and make his own choices without an over-protective father monitoring his every move and judging him on them. How can the boy find himself if he thinks what he does will displease you? This will lead to him hiding things behind your back. Oh wait, he does that already."

"I would--" Soichiro began to say, affronted, but was cut off. The personality ignored him.

"You," he said, turning to Raito. "Grow some backbone and act like the boy we came to know in the Kira investigation. We need someone with an IQ higher than dogs here. This whole situation is shameful."

"Reason, I think this is quiet enough." Logic (it could only be Logic) said, putting his hand on the other's arm.

"No, I'm through with this. Either they all shape up or I'm leaving. They can damn well deal with this on their own."

"We've been through this; you know we can't leave them alone. Especially the boy."

"May I have a say in this?…" Courage asked from the floor.

"No," came the dull reply from two and another sharp kick to the back.

"I think I'll live with that," Courage wheezed out.

Reason gave a lathery sigh. "Very well. Let's move." Both personalities removed their feet, walking off.

It was very silent for a moment.

Then- "Well, that could have gone smoother." Courage breathed out, getting to his feet. He brushed the dirt off the front of his shirt. He then clasped his hands behind his head. "Hummm, I might have been out of hand--" yeah? You think? "-But I refuse to apologize. I still want Rai-pie… however, in light of my recent meeting with the floor I shall humbly say that, unfortunately, with me around there is only more to come. And with this due warning, I shall move on." And he walked off, hands still behind his head and whistling a happy tune seemingly without a care in the world. He acted like nothing had happened at all.

"Oh Lord oh mighty God, if I survive this trip I promise I'll spend a week with my family, give grace to all the good things I have and I swear I'll pray and give you an offering for the next two years." Aizawa prayed to the heavens before making his way after the other three. The other men looked hesitant but followed soon after, afraid of what might happen if they stayed behind and not knowing what to be said of the situation so just letting it go.

For now…

"I think I understand now what you mean," Matsuda whispered next to Happiness. The other just nodded, holding mini-L in his arms. Raito couldn't help but agree.

Potential disaster indeed.

--

"You have to be kidding me," Raito stated in complete disbelief. No. No, this had to be a sick joke. A sick and terrible joke. Hadn't they've been through enough yet!?

"I wish it was so, Raito-san," Love said sadly. The Task force all had the same look of disbelief etched on their faces.

"You are telling us that we have to climb the tallest building in this place, by stairs, because there is no elevator?" Mogi asked.

"YES! It'll be such fun! Race you to the top!" Courage tried rushing inside but was held back by the collar before he got there. By whom? You guessed it! Logic.

"Unfortunately, because of security reasons, elevators were deemed unsafe. No building in the district is equipped with them because of the frequent movement," Reason said broadly.

"But what happens if we start moving while going up the stairs?" Matsuda piped up, looking worried. Everyone looked blankly at him.

"Well, it's going to a painful way down, won't it?!" Courage said loudly then broke into a fit of mad laughter.

"I really don't see how that is funny…" Aizawa grumbled.

"Let's just hope it doesn't happen…" Mogi said to Matsuda in what was supposed to be a comforting manner. Matsuda didn't look comforted at all.

"We might as well get started." Soichiro sighed, walking into the building.

15th floor

"Okay, I forgot to ask (and am slightly afraid to find out)--but--but, how many floors does this have?" Aizawa asked a few steps down, already out of breath.

"137 floors," came the reply from ahead.

Raito stumbled. Aizawa gasped. Soichiro and Mogi grunted. Matsuda whimpered.

"We're all gonna die!" Matsuda whined.

34th floor

"If you're wrong about this I will kill you. Do you understand? It will--it will be slow and painful--do you--do you understand this. Do you?!" came Aizawa's voice from somewhere down the stairs.

Raito couldn't tell. He was concentrated on going up. Matsuda made a noise of agreement behind him. His father, Aizawa and Mogi had fallen behind because of their age. Mini-L was next to him, encouraging him on.

"Don't worry! I'm almost sure!" came the reply from way up ahead of them.

"ALMOST!?!"

68th floor

"…. Can't ….breath!" Matsuda heaved, stumbling. Raito was getting to that point as well but his pride stopped him from doing so.

Matsuda didn't have that problem.

"Come on Matsuda-san! We are over halfway there!" Mini-L said, trying to pull the man with him.

"Quit complaining Ma-ma-tsuda! You –you still have your youth!" Aizawa's angry breathless voice came from what seemed miles down.

Matsuda whimpered.

85th floor….

"How much longer do you wish to rest?" came Courage's voice, which was soon joined by his face, in Raito's line of vision. Raito was currently lying on his back, gasping for air.

He still managed to glare at the personality.

He didn't, however, manage to answer.

"How about an hour?" Matsuda's muffled voice came from the floor since he was laying face-down.

Courage pouted. "No. Ten minutes."

The men groaned.

109th floor (… almost there!)

"I've been- been meaning to ask. How–how come none of you are tired? Or out of breath?" Raito puffed out. It was true; none of the personalities had even broken a sweat!

"We aren't really human, Raito-kun. We don't get tired since we have not a real body (since we live in one)." Mini-L replied.

"Does that mean we do?" Matsuda asked, butting in the conversation.

Mini-L shrugged. "Don't know. I would imagine not, but since you are having all the physical reaction you must have some sort of physical attribute or a mental state of mind…"

"Oh."

"Come on! We're almost there!"

"Oh, my poor legs!"

Roof (finally!)

The door to the roof quivered and shook until it burst open. The task force, including Raito, all fell to the ground. Some were on their hands and knees and others just lay flat on the floor, but one thing was in common. They were all exhausted.

"We made it! I can't believe it!" Matsuda shouted, flat on his back. He looked like he was going to cry.

"Never again! Never again! I don't care about the reality we are in or the universe we're in, never again ask me to take the stairs to the top of a 137-floor building. I will not do it! I refuse to do it!" Aizawa cried, dropping from his hands and knees to the ground then rolling on to his back.

There was a course of "ditto."

The roof was an impressive sight. You could see all of the tops of the other building from there and the surroundings were completely white. Blank. It gave off a surreal feeling, like they were at the end of existence. Nothing left. Strangely enough there was wind blowing.

"What are you doing here?" Anger was where Courage had said he would be. He stood at the very end of the roof, leaning against the railing, looking over the buildings. However, now his head was turned in their direction.

"Uhh." The group quickly got to their feet and brushed themselves off, prior exertion forgotten in place of regaining some dignity.

The red-eyed man shook his head, turning back to watch the roof tops. "I don't feel like dealing with you people right now."

"You are not going to give us one of your mood swings are you?" Reason (or Logic) asked.

"I'm tired all the time. I think I've had enough self-humiliation for one day." Anger suddenly didn't seem as threatening as before. He crouched down in a typical L sitting position and wrapped his arms around his folded legs. He still faced the railing, looking out from between the bars.

No one was sure how to handle the emotionally unstable man. Raito, quite frankly, didn't want to go near him. He hung back and hoped the others could take care of this one without him needing to step in.

Unfortunately, no one seemed to make a move and Raito feared he would be the one to have to do it (and it soooooo didn't end well last time he'd 'talked' to the personality….) until Mini-L stepped forward.

The boy walked over to the man, putting his small hand on his arm. "Will you come with us?" he asked softly, in his young voice.

The other just looked up at him with angry eyes, red and demonic. "Why? There is absolutely no reason for me to venture out with this circus. All I want is time to think, to be alone. To--"

"To sulk…" everyone turned to glare at Courage. He just smiled.

"Maybe so. But the way I see it, if you don't do this now we will stay here and pester you until you do, following you until you give in. So in belief to all, it will be quicker if you just give in now and it will all be over soon." Mini L cocked his head to the side looking up at the man with his honey-orange eyes.

Described in two words: utterly adorable.

Anger glared at the boy, but he didn't move; Mini-L only kept looking up at him cutely. Soon, the man's eyes softened, and his mouth twitched, as if unsure if it wanted to be pulled up or down. "You are too cute for your own good, kid."

"Is that a yes?"

"Yeah. As you said, you won't leave me alone if I don't, so we might as well get this over with. Just as long as _he_ doesn't come near me I'll be ok." Anger got up and brushed the wrinkles off his shirt.

Child-ness turned to them with a grin of his own. The men just looked at him stupidly, not believing it was that simple. Raito was working his jaw trying to find his words. He underestimated the boy's cute charms didn't he? And by the look on the kid's face he knew exactly what he was doing. He wondered just what was going on in the little devil's mind…

"Well this was fun! Race you to the bottom!" Courage cried happily rushing out the door.

There was a collective groan from the group.

"Don't you come close to me!" Anger yelled at Love.

"I didn't move…"

"And you'd better keep it like that!"

"…"

"All of you make our lives miserable," Logic and Reason stated bluntly.

"Please, let's not fight at a time like this," Happiness pleaded.

"Don't you start with the union speech!" Anger cried.

No. Raito was not looking forward to spending time with these people. Nope. Not at all…


	9. Light Blue

**FELIZ CARNAVAL**! Happy carnaval! Time to samba every one! To commemorate this wonderful time of the year a chapter for you! Apparently yesterday was Valentines Day. Well, your coultre lesson for today is that Valentines Day here in Brasil is actually the 12th of June, I don't know why but that's how we roll down here… do you feel the culture yet?

On another note, I LOVE YOU ALL! So many reviews! I'm going to cry Happy tears!

Thank you to threeBOWLSofRAMEN for drawing me some fan art! You can see it on my profile if any of you are interested. Another thanks to O'chibi-brat for reviewing all my chapters in one go! And all the rest of you who reviewed too. You know who you are and I love you all so. 333

**Warnings**: I made you laugh (kind of), now I'll make you cry (not really)

I'm nervous about this chapter too but I'll shut up now… again, thank you all! R&R

Light Blue

Show me an optimist, and I'll show you a happy-chondriac.

They were walking again. It seemed like the only thing they did was walk. The trip down the stairs had been much easier than the trip up them, but hardly more pleasant. With Anger joining them it seemed like things weren't going to be going as smoothly as he hoped. The man was always teetering on the edge; in a constant state of irritability that could be pushed over to rage by the smallest thing…

With Courage it was bound to happen, you just were asking for trouble.

In fact, the personalities were bickering at this very moment. And it was driving Raito mad! They argued over everything and with Courage's inability to understand where to draw the line the fight looked like it was never going to end. They had been at it since they left that stupid building.

Annoyed, Raito decided he would be feeling better if he stayed away from the two. He walked over to join Aizawa, Matsuda and Mogi. His father'd decision to _try_ and break up the bickering pair was falling on deaf ears and Raito was in no mood to help. The other personalities were smart enough not to get involved, keeping their distance.

Raito sighed. The thoughts he had when he first got here seemed laughable now. He thought he would actually find something useful here? Ha! If anything, things just got more confusing! No wonder the detective kept himself with a permanent blank face. If this was what it was like to be an emotional detective it was more than understandable! It was necessary!

He walked closer to the three team members but slowed down once he heard the conversation.

"I never thought Ryuzaki would be… you know, uh…" Matsuda was saying awkwardly.

"Sexual preference isn't something necessary for the co-workers to know of, Touta. It's not something that interferes with work in any way. And only if it did would it be of our concern, but this is Ryuzaki-san and he is anything but unprofessional. And if you haven't noticed, Ryuzaki-san isn't exactly jumping up to talk about his personal life. So there was really no real chance of us knowing… Why? Does it bother you Touta?" Mogi said, his tone serious. Mogi was a man always with his feet firmly on the ground. Raito was surprised the man didn't advance further in his work. Unfortunately Mogi had always been more of a follower than a leader…

"WHAT!? NO! N-no! It's not that at all! It's just… he and Raito… and the case…" Matsuda stumbled over his words, not finding the words to express to himself.

"He threw the boy in prison for 50 days, kept his father captive for almost the same amount of time, then forced the chief to point a gun at his 'potential boyfriend' as a test! I don't know about you, but that doesn't exactly scream "love interest" to me. Even if Ryuzaki isn't exactly the most normal human being to ever walk the earth," Aizawa grumbled.

"Yes, the very last thing you want to do is cause a bad impression on your father-in-law. And what he did isn't something I ever want to do to get a love interest. As far as I can see Ryuzaki-san is anything but driven by his feelings."

"But no-one is made of stone! He likes Raito! That's obvious! I think he should take initiative! What do you think Aizawa?" Matsuda insisted.

"Matsuda, as far as I'm concerned, Ryuzaki is asexual and will continue to be asexual forever in my mind. I do not want to talk about his preference. I do not want to talk about his existent of non-existent sex life. I do not want to talk about if he has a possible attraction to the CHIEF'S son! I do not want to talk about this period! I don't think I can ever enjoy pie again!" Aizawa half-whimpered, half-growled.

"But-but--!"

"Why are you so interested in this anyway? We established that it doesn't interfere with his job so as far as I see it there is no reason to discuss this. It is what it is. Why should you care Touta? Are you sure you're not bothered by this?" Mogi asked again, this time gentler.

_Yes Matsuda, why _are_ you so interested_? Raito thought wearily to himself, still keeping his distance as not to be noticed but still be able to listen in.

"NO! It's just… it's just… I want to see L, uh I mean Ryuzaki, happy! He's always so indifferent to everything. He never goes out, he spends his life isolated, it's all so sad. I have never seen him do something for himself. Have fun. Be happy…" Matsuda's voice got quieter and quieter as he went (but not so quiet that Raito couldn't hear him) kicking the ground as he walked.

The men were quiet for a moment.

"You're such a woman Matsuda," Aizawa sighed.

"Hey! Just because _you_ don't like Ryuzaki doesn't mean all of us don't either!"

"It's not that I don't like Ryuzaki… It's just… he's hard to get along with, okay? His attitude gets under my skin. We really don't see eye-to-eye most of the time, you know? He can be so unprofessional…" Aizawa sighed. Matsuda huffed, crossing his arms.

Aizawa scowled. "There's only a little problem with your plan anyway Matsuda, you're assuming not only that Raito is gay, but that he will even consider dating Ryuzaki! You've been reading too many romance novels."

"I thought you didn't want to talk about this, Shuichi." Mogi said with a grin.

Aizawa glared. Mogi's grin only got larger. "Oh, don't you start with me Kanzo! Don't you start! It's YOU two who won't let the subject die! Gossiping like two hens! Matsuda I understand, but I never expected this from you Kanzo…"

"You flatter me Shuichi."

"Shut up."

"You two obviously have an issue with this new revelation, and I find it best to tackle a problem sooner rather than later between friends. That's better than it popping up in a situation which could cost you your jobs or reputation or even the respect of your co-workers," Mogi said lightly. The other two blinked at him.

"…. What are you? A psychiatrist?" Aizawa snorted.

"Once again, you flatter me Shuichi." Mogi's grin caroled back on his face.

"…. Moron."

"But they would look so cute together!" Matsuda squealed happily, obviously ignoring the sideshow to dream off in his own matchmaker land.

"Again, Raito has to be gay, GAY, and completely insane to go for Ryuzaki," Aizawa said rather loudly, trying to pop Matsuda's bubble.

…. He wasn't insane (not yet, at least…) but what could he say? The detective got ailing all of a sudden okay? Plus the girls he went out with were hardly as interesting as the detective was… or had as much in common (for the most part) or such a cute ass…

...Anyway….

"Not necessarily. He could be bisexual or pansexual or Ryuzaki-sexual…" Mogi trailed off.

"What the-? Ryuzaki-sexual? Who the fuck turns for one person!? Who the fuck would turn for Ryuzaki!?" Aizawa asked disbelievingly, looking at Mogi weirdly.

…Apparently Raito did…

"Just because you don't find Ryuzaki-san attractive doesn't mean no one does, Shuichi. I had a friend in college. Straight as a ruler. Met this one guy… he's now lived in southern Tokyo with him for almost 4 years… they're trying to adopt children now. I wish them the best of luck," Mogi said with a far-away look. They were probably good friends.

Aizawa stared at him blankly.

"Oh, yeah! With My niece, no-one saw it coming, with all the men she dated… We found out during a family Christmas party, my sister almost had a heart attack! They're fine now. Sis did take a lot of therapy to get over it but now they couldn't be closer," Matsuda said happily, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

"…Am I the only normal person here? Really…" Aizawa asked the heavens.

"No, you just don't know all that many people. Which is a shame really. You're a charming man, Shuichi …" Mogi teased.

"... Shut up."

Mogi's demeanor suddenly changed from playful and good-natured to serious. "Shuichi, I have seen too many hate crimes in this line of work to be anything but sympathetic to people who are afraid to be themselves because others can't accept differences," Mogi said coldly.

Aizawa looked away. "It is hardly like that Kanzo…"

"I know."

"But guys, didn't you see how he looks at Ryuzaki! There's something there! I'm telling you!" Matsuda insisted again, breaking the tension.

…Stupid Matsuda. He shouldn't be insightful!

"…Oh yes. You mean like moments ago when Raito was screaming bloody murder trying to get away and/or bash the man's teeth in. Oh yes, that just SCREAMS true love to me! How could I have been so blind!?" Aizawa's words were dripping with sarcasm. Matsuda stuck his tongue out at the other.

"Don't be mean Shuichi. But he does have a point Touta. You know Raito does have a repetition with women." Mogi sighed, seeming a little disappointed himself. With what exactly, Raito wasn't sure.

And what a reputation that was! Raito ground just thinking about it! They melted with just a look!

… But not L. Never with L. He would need to work hard to get L. Not just a sly smile and sweet word…

"You said so yourself! He could be bisexual or Ryuzaki-sexual. You guys just don't see it! You have to see the way they look at each other. It's there!"

"Touta, I know your intentions are good, but face it, you're just a hopeless romantic. This is probably unrequited…uh, affection. And even, supposedly, Raito did go for Ryuzaki-san there is still the Kira casa in the mix. Face it Touta, you have no chance of playing matchmaker…" Mogi said realistically.

"LOVE CONQUERS ALL!" Matsuda shouted dramatically.

"Love? What love? Who said anything about love? It's all probably just a crush or hormones or something, you're such an idiot Matsuda," Aizawa said grouchily.

Suddenly Courage popped up from nowhere and swung his arms around Matsuda and Aizawa's necks. "Yes! But he's a special kind of idiot!"

"Were you eavesdropping on our conversation?" Aizawa glared.

"Noooooo. I got here at 'you're such an idiot Matsuda' and came to say you are completely correct in that statement Aizawa, but that Matsuda is a very special breed of idiot!"

"…Oh really…"

"Yeah! He's the 'moronic but lucky' type! No mater how stupid he acts, his blunders, or the idiotic situations he gets himself into, people just can't be mad at because he's just too cute! And innocent! Cute and innocent! Not to mention his stupidity usually lands him a lead or a case-breaker! Cute, innocent, AND lucky! The perfect man! _How_ _are_ you single?" Courage pinched said man's checks.

Matsuda rubbed at them. "Uhh, thanks, I guess…"

"You're welcome cutie!"

"And what type of idiot are you?" Aizawa snorted, not expecting an answer.

"Me? I'm an even rarer type of idiot!" Courage said excitedly, releasing the men and jumping in front of them, bowing.

"I am someone with a ridiculously high IQ but acts like a complete moron and a pain in the ass!" Courage said happily.

"…Why?

"Because it's fun! Did you ever notice that stupid people have more fun? Smart people are just so filled with problems it's boring! Look at Logic and Reason! Two sticks in the mud. What life is that? No fun at all! And I just love the expression people get on their faces when I do something moronic! In other words, I'm an asshole!"

The men's faces were blank. Eyes wide. Mouths slightly open.

"Yeah! Like that! They look exactly like that! HAHAHAHA!" He laughed wholeheartedly and rushed off.

The team was quiet for a minute.

"This place will age me 50 years. I know it. It will age me 50 years…" Aizawa cried, covering his face with his hands, shaking his head.

Raito moved away, having heared enough. Apparently his father had managed to break up the bickering pair.

They were right. There was so much to destroy this possible relationship before it even started. It was obvious L liked him but he didn't make a move. He didn't succumb to his own feelings.

That meant that if he wanted anything from that man HE would have to be the one to make the first move.

The question was, did he want to be in a relationship with L?

…Did he? Now that was something he hadn't thought about. This simply couldn't be a one-night stand. They were chained together. Whatever his decision would be would affect more than just himself. He had to take into consideration his family, the team, and the case.

Then there was L himself.

The only good thing about the man's personalities was that Raito could break down what was in his favor and what wasn't.

Let's see. There was Happiness. He pretty much liked Raito, which was good. Child-ness surely like him, he was almost attached to him. Raito guessed he fed the man's inner child… then there was Love… err.

There was Logic and Reason. Now that was their real problem. They had the most influence and they pretty much hated him… Anger wasn't much better really. However he seemed to be angrier with himself (Love) than with anything else. Courage… Courage… well, with what happened before it was self-explanatory.

So the numbers were 4 to 3 in favor. Not bad.

Then why did he still think it would all be pointless?

"Do you feel all right Raito-san?" Raito almost jumped out of his skin. Love's soft voice made hot lava run up and down his spine.

"I-I'm fine, why do you ask?" Raito cursed himself for his stuttering.

"You seemed so involved in your thoughts. I hope you're still not thinking about what happened earlier…" Love's face lit up with a blush and he looked down.

…Rai-pie…

Raito shuddered.

"No, something else is on my mind. Don't worry about it."

"Oh."

They walked in silence, hearing the other group members chatter around them. Courage and Child-ness were chasing each other around while Reason and Logic muttered between themselves and his father joined his team.

It was becoming very awkward…

"I'm sorry, I apologise in place of my… co-worker. Courage is-"

"Senseless? Annoying? Fearless? An asshole?" Raito said helpfully.

Love smiled and looked down at the floor, making him incredibly cute.

Raito smiled as well.

"Yes. I hope his harassment hasn't traumatized you. Or made you think less of us. He's very strong and we let him out in moderate doses so he doesn't land us in trouble. Too much of anything is bad for you," Love said with a bit of humor in his voice.

"Yeah."

They looked at each other and Raito felt really hot all of a sudden. "Uhh," he said intelligently.

Love bit his thumb before rushing off with a quiet 'excuse me'. Raito watched him go, biting his lip.

No-one ever said that just because a relationship _might _be doomed from the start didn't mean it should be discarded, right? Or that you shouldn't even try… who knew? He might just have a chance…

While they passed another empty street of the mazes of buildings known as L's mind Raito noticed something. He would have never noticed it if he weren't looking that way.

"Hey! Guys, look over here! I think I saw something!" Even before the words finished coming out of his mouth Courage was peering from behind his shoulder. He rolled his eyes and walked after what he thought he saw down the street.

As he got closer, what he saw came into perspective.

It was indeed another personality. This one had a very light blue shirt. It was a clear blue; a nice shade indeed. However, the nice color of the shirt was dragged down by the personality himself.

One word to describe the man was heavy. It looked like everything on him weighed tons. The way the man stood looked like he had an invisible ball and chain around his neck making him hunch backwards. His arms hung limply at his sides, swinging lifelessly.

Over all he looked wet as well. His hair was falling down like he had just came out of the pool or shower. This made his hair longer giving the man a more feminine look. The personality himself looked airy, like he was lost in life. (Something the personality and L sure as hell didn't share).

His eyes were a crystal shade of blue, differing from his shirt, but they were also the saddest eyes Raito had ever seen. They were filled with such misery it made Raito depressed just looking at him. Like he was a man who had went through too much in his life and was questioning why he should go on.

One thing that personality had that the others didn't (or at lest Raito thought they didn't) was a sent. The man smelled like rain.

"Uh, hello…" Raito tried. The man dragged his eyes away from the sky to spare him a glance before his eyes turned back upwards.

"Hello."

Raito fidgeted. Where was everyone?

"What are you doing?" He tried again. This was awkward…

"Me? Contemplating the meaning of life. It's useless really. Life. We live for a period of time then we're gone. Nothing but a memory in the minds of the people we know, before they too, die. What lies beyond the grave? People always wonder. Why do they wonder such a thing? Isn't it possible that there is just nothing? No heaven. No hell…"

Raito coughed, feeling even more uncomfortable. Did the others lose their way?

The man started walking off and Raito, afraid to lose him, followed behind. He heard footsteps and was thankful the others were on their way.

"No. People can't accept that this might just be the end. How can we, as humans, think that maybe, just maybe, who we are as a person can forever be lost the day we stop breathing? Nothing-ness is not an option..."

He stopped. Raito stopped with him. Soon he felt the others join him. Courage opened his mouth to speak but the hands of Love, Happiness and Child-ness quickly covered it.

"That's why murder seems like such a pointless thing dose it not? Life is so fragile already. It takes so little to take a life away. An impact to the head, a slit to the throat or wrist or anywhere, really. It doesn't take much to bleed to death. Drowning, suffocation, burning alive. A broken neck. Allergies. So many little things can take a life. Small, simple and idiotic. People live in a rotten state, expecting the next day to be the same as the last, when so much can be lost at any moment…" the personality said airily, as if he was reflecting on a partially interesting book.

Raito glanced at the others. The team looked rather disturbed and more then a little uncomfortable. Probably because as policemen they actually had seen every death the man described…

"Death will come at the snap of the fingers, but _saving_ a life? Ah, now that's much more thrilling. I never will understand the men and women who take pleasure in torture. In murder. Humans are so easy to kill. Flesh so soft, tears so easily …" he looked over to Raito, whose eyes were wide. "Don't you think? A life is so much harder to save than to take?"

Raito shifted. "Y-yeah."

"I wonder why they do it then…" he hummed and started walking again. He walked as if he floated on his feet, which was a paradox in itself since the man look like he carried the world on his back.

"That's why I'll never give up being a detective. Saving a life is so much more fulfilling than taking it. No?"

Raito quickly came to understand that the men made all these rhetorical question as a form of making other people question their own perspective.

He didn't like that. He wanted answers to his already large pile of questions. Not philosophical bullshit about human existence.

Raito stopped. Where did that come from? He suddenly became uncomfortable in his own skin. Maybe he did have a few screws loose in his head…

Or at the very least an alter ego…

But it didn't feel like an alter ego. It felt like him, but just… crueler…

Evil.

Ah, it was all in his head. Nothing to worry about. He just had too much time to think, that's all…

What were they talking about again?

"We are all equal in death."

Oh yeah. All that morbid stuff.

Raito was pulled out of his musings by the sight ahead of him. At first he thought they were back to the Plaza but quickly corrected that mistake.

It was another small clearing. But it wasn't strategically built the way the Plaza or the Hall was. No, this clearing was there because of the giant, gaping fissure across the floor. It was a triangular crack, the largest part ending at the line where the city met desert. Sand slid its way into the fissure making a lump in the distance. Overall the fissure was half a kilometer long and around 30 meters wide… that is, as far as Raito could tell.

As they got closer Raito saw that its jagged broken edges were fenced by a simple iron fence painted white.

"What is that?" Matsuda asked curiously, popping up beside Raito and standing on his toes to get a better look.

"Sadness, why did you bring us here? You know the land here is unstable." Logic (probably Logic) said broadly.

"Unstable!" Matsuda squeaked.

"I like it here," was the simple answer. Sadness continued to walk. He leaned against the railing. Raito twitched, suddenly afraid of what the personality might do. It was a fissure for Pete's sake! And the man wasn't the most…uh, emotionally stable.

You just don't let sad people near high drops…

Raito took the opportunity to peer down at the wide chasm. It didn't seem like that far of a drop… well, at least it didn't seem like it would kill you if you fell. Even if he couldn't really see the bottom… But what was more interesting were the mechanics lining the dark walls. It looked like an engine room if taken out of context.

"L…" Raito said slowly, deciding to use the detective's normal address as if saying 'I'm asking every personality here for an answer.' "This may sound silly but… why do you have this giant gaping fissure going through your mind…?" Probably not a good sign, not a good sign at all.

"You're not insane, are you?" Matsuda blurted, once again not thinking before speaking yet thinking around the same lines as Raito himself.

"I've asked myself this question every day for a very long time now," Logic and Reason murmured off in their corner.

"Of course not! Silly Matsuda! Why would you say such a thing?" Courage asked with a teasing tone in his voice as walked by on his hands, staring at Matsuda from his upside down position.

"What?" he asked innocently.

Somehow the team didn't look too convinced.

"Pressure manifests itself in many ways. Some things in life are harder to mange than others," Sadness said airily, while he climbed the railing, and to Raito's horror, started to walk (balance) on the metal bar, which was no wider than the teen's pinky finger.

_Not insane my ass._

"This is but a hair-sized fracture compared to the mind as a whole. However, it is a start of what could very well be a dangerous mental breakdown." Sadness continued, seemingly ignoring the panicking looks the team and Raito had on their faces as he walked along the bar.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!?" Aizawa asked rather loudly, worry (and maybe a tiny bit of anger) coloring his voice.

"Excuse me?" Sadness asked rather distractedly when Raito suddenly lunged himself at the man's pant leg.

This had the contrary affect to the one the teen had in mind, because instead of pulling the man to safety it only resulted in him losing his balance and falling backwards.

Into the gaping hole.

Managing to drag Raito along with him.

…

"AHHHHHHHH!"

"OH MY GOD! RAITO!"

The fall didn't take as long as the teen thought it would have, and the landing didn't hurt as he predicted it would. That, however, might be because someone cushioned his landing.

"Never before was I this happy to have metaphorical bones. Raito, I don't think my spine should bend this way," Sadness' muffled voice came from underneath him. Raito quickly got himself up, red in the face, but for once since he had gotten himself into this mess it wasn't from embarrassment but fury.

"What the fuck were you thinking!"

"I don't see what you're so mad about. You were the one who initiated the fall." Sadness' voice was annoyingly calm (reminding Raito too much of a certain detective)

"You were walking on a railing! Teetering at the edge of an abyss! You could have gotten yourself killed!"

"You can't kill emotion Raito. I have no body. We can't be hurt with items or impacts, only words and actions."

"What the hell is wrong with you!? That is still no excuse! You sacred me half to death! Who the hell takes a stroll on a railing next to a giant crack in the ground!"

Raito then heard the frantic calling from above, his father the loudest of them all. Maybe the drop was higher than he'd thought.

"I'm all right!" he shouted back, glaring at the personality next to him which was ineffective since he seemed distracted again.

"Thank goodness! Are you sure? No broken bones? How are you getting back up here!" his father's voice came from above.

Raito was about to shout back that he had no idea when a soft voice interrupted him. "We should walk to the end of the valley and climb the sand dune. That should lead us back up to the surface soon," Sadness said in his same airy tone before walking off.

Raito gave out an angry sigh. "We're climbing the sand dune! Wait there!" he called before he rushed off after the personality.

Actually being down in the inner workings of L's mind was rather creepy. Not only for what it represented but the fact that it was actually colder down there than on the surface. The way the opening up top was formed made the inside shadowed and ominous. Not to mention the machines gave off this dull raw that couldn't normally be heard beneath the thick glass.

The whole place gave off a type of horror movie vibe. It made Raito shift from foot to foot. Not only because of the uneasy feeling but also how ridiculous these thoughts were.

It's not like there was some sort of murdering monster crawling about.

…

He was really spending too much time with his sister. Soap operas, horror moves, all of this was mashing up his IQ. Ha. Monsters. Ha-ha.

…Ha-ha…

"Aren't you afraid of death?" Raito suddenly asked, trying to keep away such ridiculous thoughts. He promised himself he would start going out again instead of staying at home watching soap operas and horror movies with his sister… really, he had a better social life than this

After the chain came off of and the investigation was over, that is.

Sadness bit his thumb, eyes looking upwards, still walking at a sluggish pace. He then looked back at the teen. "Well Raito, I would like to think that yes. I have no fear of death. It is something that I feel rather familiar with but…"

"But?"

"Well Raito, who can truly say they have no fear of death? You can freely say that now that you have no qualms over death, but facing the end, knowing it will all be over and you have no idea what is coming next, if there is anything after this, can you really fear nothing? Overall, fear of death is nothing but uncertainty. People are afraid of what they do not know. And nothing is more mysterious than death. What will happen after that? Is there such a thing as an afterlife? Heaven or hell? Or is it just nothing? Will all that you are as a person disappear the moment you perish? To only live in the memory of the people who knew you? Before they too are gone and your existence may as well never have happened. That is a terrifying thought, is it not?"

"…Yeah."

They walked in silence. That lasted for a while. A long walk passing by what seemed like the same scenery over and over. Raito wasn't sure he could take any more of this personality. Raito himself never thought of such things. He worried himself with the present. How ugly the world was now. He didn't think of death or if something came after. He didn't have to. He was young. Almost eighteen. He had his life ahead of him; a bright and beautiful future. Why think of such things?

"You know, you are not really like the other personalities, are you?" He suddenly asked.

"No. I guess not." Sadness smiled a small smile. "I'm different because I don't take sides."

"Sides?" Raito echoed.

"Yes, sides. If you noticed there is a bit of a… let's say a small battle going on. Where logic and Reason are fighting to keep their position as ultimate dictators and the emotions are trying to gain back any ground they can. I stand on neither side. Emotions are not nearly logical Ratio. We go by how we feel, on instinct. Spontaneous. I, on the other hand stand in the middle. For I am not only emotional but also logical. My depression dose not come from spontaneous bouts of mood but the constant reminder of the reality in which we live in," Sadness said airily.

Raito didn't know how to reply. He tried, "So what? Are you depressed?" He could have tried harder.

"Oh no. Well, maybe slightly. I do not live the healthiest life Raito, and my job not only will most likely kill me at a young age but I am also constantly reminded of the cruelty of humanity. If I did not firmly believe that there is some good in people, well, I don't know what I would have done."

Raito's uneasiness had evolved into something much worse. What he would have done? Raito swallowed thickly. "Did you… uh, you know… is it- it really that bad? Did you? Oh- uh…" Raito made slashing motions with his hands trying to mimic what he was unwilling to ask.

"Oh no. No matter the situation I never could bring myself to such thing as suicide. It seems pointless. Same with self-mutilation. I find inflicting self-harm to be quite… fruitless. Manifesting emotional pain into the pain of the flesh will gain you nothing but more pain. The ways I find myself dealing with my reality are by trying to make it better. What better way than burying yourself in work? Depression is never an excuse. Though in retrospect I can't say I live the harsher side of humanity, death doesn't sound any better. Terrible things happen. They always will. The trick is not to linger on them. Life is meant to throw you into hardship and the fact that you emerge victorious and stronger because of it is what makes it worth it, no? Things can't always be good or bad. Your life will never be only a constant shower of pain and it is silly to talk yourself into believing such a thing. One extreme will not fix another."

"…Yes, indeed." Raito bit his lip, shifting from side to side. This conversation had taken a rather dark turn. He had no idea how to chaing the subject smoothly.

So he said nothing and just walked forward. The sounds of the machinery seemed louder in their heavy silence. Raito found himself not able to look at the personality beside him. Who acted like nothing extraordinary happened?

L never struck him as depressed; as anything but a powerful opponent; a respectable man, which Raito still found extraordinary. The man himself was nothing special. His appearance when Raito first saw him screamed 'drug addict' with his wide, dark-rimed eyes and pale-as-death skin. His slouch and the way he sat were things that Raito would normally look down upon.

What really made L _L_ was his presence. His attitude. It was the way he carried himself. That is what fascinated Raito the most. L's appearance was nothing but a facade to hide what a dangerous man he was beneath.

And now Raito had dug a little too deep and a little too far.

He wasn't sure what to think of the information he received; how all this affected his view of the detective. He couldn't really balance it out because this was only one bit from a whole. But the teen had the impression Sadness had more respect than he led on. More power than he led on. When they followed him no-one questioned him or tried to stop him. When he talked no one interrupted him or questioned him.

Raito thought Sadness had a lot more control over the other emotions, over L, and he didn't know how that made him feel.

"We are here." Raito snapped his head up (apparently having his head bowed in thought the whole way).

They had reached the point of the valley where the sand fell in, making it into a cascade that lead up to the surface. Sadness started to climb it.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Ratio followed clumsily behind. The fissure was another upsetting problem. This--this random crack in L's mind worried Ratio more than he was willing to admit. Cracks meant breaking and breaking meant something terrible and this was a crack in the man's mind.

Sadness looked back over his shoulder, hands in front of him to help him climb. He waited patiently until Raito caught up to him. When the teen did they moved forward together. Heavy silence fell between them again.

They had gotten almost one third of the way when Raito felt eyes burning his side. He looked awkwardly to the side only to face the deep watery blue eyes of Sadness. He rolled his shoulders and cleared his throat.

"Yes?" Raito tried to sound his like his normal polite self but the rather high-pitched tone in his voice gave away his discomfort.

"Do you know what is rather depressing?" Sadness asked. Raito didn't answer. The personality stopped, half sitting half 'L' crouching on the sand. Raito sat with him.

"My first friend is going to kill me." Oh, not this again. Raito didn't know if he could swallow the Kira accusations at this very moment. Not after all of that.

"Look, we have been over this and-" two fingers suddenly covered his mouth. Raito's eyes widened at the feel of the digits on his lips. He turned wide eyes to the solemn face of the personality in front of him.

"It is sad, yet I find myself with mixed feelings. On one hand, it is rather comforting to know your death will come from someone you know and not some stranger. On the other hand, it is more heart-breaking to know you will be killed by a loved one." Sadness turned his head slightly to the side, as if trying to look for something deep within Raito.

"I'm not-" the brunet tried to say but the fingers only pressed harder against his lips, cutting him off.

"I have seen it all before. So much that it still astonishes me when I find myself surprised at something. You could have done so much Raito. Been anything and everything. I do not know what happened to you. If you lost your memory or if you have a personality disorder. Maybe you are just sick in the head. But I have seen something deep inside your eyes. And I know that the moment I take my last breath you will be doing your best to keep yourself from laughing out loud." Raito shook his head.

"It is all right." Sadness leaned forward so his face was next to Raito's own. "You may deny this now but there will come a point when this sweet boy will disappear and Kira will return to his place." Sadness brushed his lips at the side to the teen's temple making Raito tense and let out a strange mix between a whimper, a squeak and a gasp. His eyes were so wide they started to water because of the strain.

"I'm sorry. This will not have a happy ending no matter the way you look at it." Sadness leaned back and Raito had to wonder what look he had on his face to make the man crack a small smile. Even if it looked like he was on the verge of crying.

Suddenly the man was halfway up the sand and Raito's lips were free to hang open.

"They will be looking for us," came the personality's quiet voice. "We should hurry." He never looked back, climbing steadily up the mountain.

All Raito did was stare as he went, trying and failing to pull himself back together. His mind spun in loops as no reasoning came from it. Slowly he came to his senses enough to scramble back to his feet and follow the other up the dune.

All he could think of was:

_I will make it a happy ending._


	10. Purple

**Ahhhh, it has been so long hasn't? Err, sorry. I could sit here and give you excuses but I doubt you want to hear them… not sure if any of you read this anyway… Oh well. I shall be having exams almost all month next month. This will be slow then too but after that up date will probable be almost regular. **

**I'm nerves about this chapter**

**Read and Review!**

**Purple**

**If you are always looking over your shoulder you will never go forward.**

The walk back was a silent one. All of Ratio's charm and social grace seemed to have evaporated in the face of the dark mood and heavy air … well, to Raito that is. Sadness was none the wiser--completely oblivious to the burning brown eyes trying to put a hole in the back of his head.

Yes, Sadness surely took the cake. Spilling out deep meaningful (depressing and bone-chilling) words then walking off like he hadn't just dropped a bombshell. Raito rubbed the back of his head and sighed. This place was really starting to get to him. Never before was it HIM that wanted to make a relationship work. Quite frankly he was starting to worry about his own mental health. What teenage boy didn't want a girlfriend? Or any form of romantic interest? Now out of nowhere he finds himself attracted to a _man_, and on top of that, striving to make an already failed potential relationship work…

He was starting to think he really might have some serious problems…

Never mind that he was attracted to a male. He could come to terms with that. (He just hoped he wouldn't give his father a heart attack as well). The homosexual population was growing and his sister always did complain about wanting to have a gay friend. But _L? L! _When did that happen? He used to sneer at people who dressed like the detective did; at men with better posture, too. Weren't they supposed to have some sort of friendly rivalry? The man wasn't unattractive _per say_. (Actually he was becoming more and more attractive to Raito…) But, he'd never thought L would be his type…

Not that he'd thought about having love interest with men before.

…Oh, the irony. Women-magnet, neat freak, one night stand man and sex god wanted a lasting relationship with L.

The voice in the back of his head was laughing.

He wasn't sure why. Did that mean he was laughing at his own misery?

… Hummm, maybe seeing a doctor wasn't a bad idea after all…

He and L could see a doctor together! It was becoming quite clear the man had some serious issues of his own… err, look at that. He was already planning daytime activities with the man. He was hooked. Hook, line and sinker.

Raito jumped, startled by a particularly loud shout. He blinked and looked ahead. They were close enough now that the task force and personalities were only meters away. All the personalities were huddled around in a deformed circle. Yelling could be heard from where Raito stood. The task force was grouped a few feet away from the personalities, looking to be at a complete loss.

"It seems that we were not all that missed. Does it not, my dear Raito?" Sadness asked tilting his head to the side.

Raito looked at him before his eyes slid back to the blur of color with flailing arms. "So it seems," he answered, ignoring the rather intimate speech pattern of 'my dear'…

They walked quickly over to the task force. The first one to notice them was Matsuda.

"Raito! You're okay!" Matsuda yelled rather loudly, stumbling over to the brunet clumsily, tripping over his own feet, and catching the attention of the rest of the team (who seemed to be discussing what to do with the fighting mass in front of them.)

His father mimicked Matsuda's exclamation and rushed over to fuss over Raito, blabbering 1,000 words a minute and asking if it 'hurt' anywhere.

"Dad, Matsuda, I'm fine. Really. Sadness broke my fall-" he gave an apologetic look to said personality, who only offered him a small smile. "- Anyway, what's happening here?" Raito finished.

"We have no idea! One minute we were all concerned about you, the next Anger makes some comment about something; Love replies; Anger gets… well, angry; Happiness interferes; then Child-ness; then Logic and--"

"I think they get the point Touta," Aizawa interrupted before Matsuda could go on with his mumbling.

Matsuda blushed. "Uhhh, yeah. Next thing we know all of them are like--" he made a hand gesture towards the group. "-Well, like this. We have no idea what to do! If any of us try to interrupt they just ignore us and shout louder!" Matsuda finished off, voice filled with exasperation.

Raito turned to the mass of raging personalities. He leaned in a bit to hear what they were saying.

"- And this is all your fault! It was your idea in the first place!" Anger was yelling at Happiness.

"My fault!? MY FAULT!? It's always me, Love, Child-ness, Courage, or whoever else that you pin the blame on! It's never YOUR fault! Is it? Oh no, even though you are the most implosive and pig-headed out of all of us!" Happiness yelled (yes, yelled) right back.

"Please. Let's be reasonable. We don't have to fight. This--" Love tried to cut in with his soft voice but was soon was cut off himself by Anger.

"Oh no! Don't _you_ try and come along and mend things here! You're the worst of them all! What?! It's not enough you are tying to ruin our lives, you're now going to try some peace-making bullshit on us too?! Fuck off! You have no right!" Love looked away, biting his lip.

"How dare you speak to him like that! I'm sick and tired of you putting the blame on him. What? Is it a crime to have feelings now?!" Happiness snarled back. Child-ness who was clinging to his leg nodded enthusiastically.

"This _is_ his fault! If it weren't for him we probably would have solved the case already! We might have gotten away! Maybe lived a few more years! But noooooo! He had to go along and land us all in the shit-hole with his damn _feeeelings."_ Anger spat his words like acid making Love shrink even more into himself.

"That's mean!" Child-ness cried indignantly.

"Don't you dare spit such nonsense! You know damn well that the case isn't going anywhere because of that lack of any evidence!" Happiness growled out.

Courage popped in between Happiness and Anger. "That is true, you know. No matter what credibility we may have with the authorities, if we go to the police and world government interpol and say: 'Hey, you know the Kira case? Well, I got no concrete evidence but I've studied this boy for long while now and even though he hasn't done anything remotely incriminating to the naked eye, I am currently 97.7% certain he is Kira! So, I have locked him up for 50 days then chained him to myself for the past…. Errr, I would say 16 and a half months... Completely violating his civil rights, human rights and privacy in hope of catching him doing something I could use to prove him guilty--as well as having him actually work on the case… which, come to think of it, doesn't sound too good when I say out loud to my superiors, now does it? Oh, and did I mention he's just too cute to be alive with that ass?' Well, the last part shouldn't be said out loud but I'm guessing after the 50 days thing they will pretty much have stopped listening so we could basically say what we wanted and all they would hear is white noise over their own indignant cries…" Courage mused out loud, trialing off as if thinking of said situation.

The other personalities stared at him. The team stared at him. Raito stared at him.

"…Did I fucking ask for your opinion on this?" Anger snapped.

Courage blinked at him. "Noooooo, but I gave it anyways! Plus, you two looked like you were ready to blow a vein or something. There is such tension in the air…" Courage had what Raito could only describe as a 'shit-eating grin' on his face. He twirled his hand on his wrist, gesturing at the 'air'.

Anger's face became as red as his shirt. His eyes were blazing. He really did look like he was going to blow. He looked like the devil… or Aizawa in his so-so moods.

"I'LL SHOW YOU WHAT BLOW UP IS!" And with that, Anger threw himself at Courage who laughed merrily and ran away, ducking whenever Anger tried to deal a blow to his head.

"It's just like you to deal with such a thing with violence," Reason (or Logic… it doesn't really matter…) sniffed out in his monotone.

That stopped Anger right in his tracks, giving Courage enough time to run off with all his limbs still attached to his body.

"What did you just say?" he hissed out so sinisterly Raito had to give a few steps back.

"You heard very well what I have just said." Logic (or Reason, though he didn't seem very reasonable at the moment…) dismissed. Both gray personalities crossed their arms simultaneously, looking down at Anger from over their noses.

"What the fuck are you insinuating!"

"This is exactly it. Not only do you act irrationally, you also use this constant, deplorable vocabulary."

"What fucking vocabulary?!"

"This! The constant swearing! It's a signal of lower intelligence you know. You do not have the ability to win arguments in a calm and well-spoken way so you just spit out these… these _atrocities_ to cover up for your missing diction and argument."

"Oh, fuck no! If it might have escaped you, oh dear gardens of rationality, we all derive from the same person and therefore have the same IQ, vocabulary, and understanding! I do not use my so-called 'atrocious' vocabulary to cover up anything! It is not a sign of lower _intelligence_ as it is in some cases, but a sign of _emotion_. The form in which I use to express my intense anger with specific words that fit where others would just diminish my point or make me sound like some sort of hocus-pocus IDIOT! It's called feeling! Try it some time!" Anger snarled like a rabid animal.

Both gray personalities snorted in synchrony. "Oh please. Emotions only cloud judgment. Feeling only derives you from your purpose. And your vocabulary only serves to diminish any sign of intelligence you claim to have. We much prefer to keep ourselves in the position we are in as the only creatures with a remote sense of understanding and moving judgment," Logic and Reason lectured monotonously at the same time.

"GRAAA!" With an infuriated cry Anger once again launched himself at Logic and Reason. Ratio was sure he'd never seen anyone with more intent to kill.

Happiness, Love, and Child-ness all threw themselves at Anger. Love and Happiness pinned down both arms and Child-ness hung onto the back of the boiling personality.

"NO! Don't give them the pleasure of ticking you off! It's just what they are aiming for!" Happiness gritted out as he struggled to keep Anger down.

"Let go of me! It's about God-damn time someone put them in their place!"

"May I give my opinion?" Courage suddenly asked.

"NO!" every single personality in the arguing group turned to shout at him. Courage leaned backwards slightly with the force of the screams, then pouted.

"You didn't have to be so rude. You hurt my feelings like that," Courage sniffed before crossing his arms then falling back to sit cross-legged on the floor. His cheeks puffed out like a chipmunk. "It's not like I was going to give it anyways." Any further grumbling was drowned out by the retake of the fight.

Raito blinked.

"Well… they have seriously been active, haven't they?" Sadness murmured from beside Raito.

"Oh Raito, you have to do something!" Matsuda cried.

Raito turned, wide-eyed, to Matsuda. _What? Me!? Why ME!? I'm not going into that death trap!_

Out loud he asked calmly, "Matsuda, what gives you the idea I will have any more success in breaking this up than any of you have had?"

"You're good with people Raito! They will listen to you! We tried already!" Lies! All lies! And was that a mocking glint in Matsuda's eye? Oh, no. Why did he even begin to think that this was even the slightest bit of a good time to get together! Raito was going to wring his neck!

Mogi gave his two cents. "Matsuda is right, Raito-san." Oh great! Mogi too?! Come on! Matsuda was _never_ right!

"It is true son. You do have a way with people." Even you, father! You go to the ends of the earth to prove his innocence; rip to shreds anyone who dares to think your son is anything but the perfect Boy Scout, yet throw him to his death at the hands of a pack of angry and dysfunctional Ls!

Thanks a lot, dad.

He sighed. Why was it always the hot geniuses who went first? "Very well."

Raito gave a few steps forward before a particularly enraged scream coming from Anger made him jump. He turned to the team and Sadness. They were now about three meters away. Matsuda had the balls to give him the thumbs up.

Ration shook his head and counted to ten. Forget Kira. He'd be lucky if he wasn't convicted of murder _now_. He sure felt like it…

The voice in the back of his head was laughing maniacally.

When Raito got close enough yet still far away enough, he deemed, that he wouldn't have his head ripped off, he tried speaking up. "Uh, guys?"

No one even bated an eye in his direction.

"Hey! Oi! Guys! Over here!" He tried waving.

Nothing.

Oh, this was ridiculous! He was Raito-Damn-Yagami! He stopped traffic with a flip of his hair! "OI! GUYS!"

That got their attention.

"WHAT!" came a group-snarl (except from Logic and Reason. They don't 'snarl'. And Love, because he's… well, Love.)

Raito suddenly felt all his self-confidence leave him. He had seven pairs of very L-like eyes burning away at his skin. L always had that unnerving gaze. His eyes had always made Raito feel like a dissection project: Dead, sliced open and with nothing to hide.

Multiply that feeling by seven? (Even if it was multi-colored)

…

…

Yeah, Raito was feeling very small right now.

"Uh… so?… you know?…uh…" is this how Matsuda feels when he makes a blunder and the whole station/task force stairs blankly at him? Maybe he should cut the man some more slack?

Then again, Matsuda was the one to land him in this situation in the first place….

…Oh dear. They still were all looking at him. Now what? How long had he been lost in thought?! Errr, better say something…

"…" Raito opened his mouth but nothing came out. He could really feel his skin starting to burn. He resisted the temptation of biting his lip. He had to look somewhere, _anywhere, _with out those burning gazes. No such luck. All of them had the same look: intense; focused. Well, maybe not all of them. Courage looked more like a blank stair and Love had a softer look…

Soon they all noticed the teen wasn't going to do anything or say anything to keep their attention and they lost interest.

Unfortunately, that meant they all went back to arguing.

Raito once again had to resist an urge, this time to hang his head in defeat. A Yagami would never admit to such a thing. Ask anyone from his family. But Raito? Raito was the most stubborn of them all!

… Yet now he was thinking more along the lines of a well-thought-through and coordinated retreat.

He walked back to where the task force was standing by Sadness.

"That did not go too well now, did it?" Sadness asked softly.

"No. No it didn't. Not at all as I planed…" Sadness tried giving him a reassuring smile but it only made him feel depressed.

"Great. What we do now?" Aizawa huffed.

"Wait, I guess. There is really little we can do." Mogi said, eyes trailing over the bickering mass.

"Is there really nothing we can do?" Matsuda asked. "They still seem like they are going to hurt each other… really badly…"

"You need to learn to be patient and understand that in some cases there is nothing you can do. This is one of them. We tried Matsuda, but this is really a situation L can only solve himself," Soichiro said, eyes looking firmly ahead.

Like a good leader his father was, he directed the others with strong conviction and wise words.

Too bad he didn't do that before when he sent out his own son to be devoured alive…

"Your immaturity doesn't do Justice to your size," Logic and Reason were saying.

Apparently Anger had given up on tearing Logic and Reason to shreds and now he was picking a fight with his former captors. However Child-ness apparently managed to get caught up in an argument of his own with the twins.

"Dull, lifeless sags!" Child-ness huffed.

Which was beginning to look more like a playground fight by the minute.

Logic and Reason gave the child a dull look. "And? Is that all you have to say?"

Child-ness puffed out his cheeks. "NO! You're very mean, too! And evil!" Child-ness jumped up and down swinging his little fists around.

"Is that your best argument?" Both chorused.

"NO! I also think that the two of you have narcissistic personalities with overly inflated egos. You run a dictatorship over others because you are too afraid to lose control and don't trust anyone to help keep us alive. Neither of you are satisfied with the position you have so you try to impose your self-proclaimed authority on us. Moreover, because of your cold narrow points of views you tend to miss important emotional behavior in cases which have caused us problems in the past. Because of previous trauma you believe that the existence of any other personality is not only unnecessary but also harmful; which leads the two of you to try and shun us as much as possible. Yet you fail because the beauty of human nature is in the fact that we are such evolved creatures, we have the privilege of expanding from primal instincts and feeling something more. That scares you because that means loss of focus and that impulse decides. However, the worst part is that you know that any emotion will always be stronger than logic or reason. So you do your best to repress us and hope against hope that it all won't blow up in your faces…" Child-ness panted after his speech, then crossed his arms and tried glaring. The look was lost because his nose scrunched up cutely instead of causing intimidation.

Silence…

The other personality looked at each other. For a minute the fight was put on pause. The team members were all looking at the child with different levels of surprise, eyes wide.

They waited for the twins' reaction.

The gray personalities turned to each other, eyebrows lifted. "His strangely insightful rant is lost on his petite and innocent appearance, is it not?" one asked.

"Indeed," the other replied.

Thus, a disaster was avoided and the others resumed their own arguments once again.

Child-ness huffed and crossed his little arms, insulted. He never was taken seriously! Why did he even try? He puffed out his cheeks before going off to cling to Raito. If no one valued his opinion, well then fine! Their loss. He kicked the ground on the way over.

The boy attached himself to the teen. Tiny fists balled up in Raito's pants leg. Raito scratched the back of his head and awkwardly patted the boy's hair. Well, at least they got one of them to stop arguing…

But really. This boy was too much. No wonder the detective was so immature, if this was the result it had. Good thing he wasn't painfully cute.

…Errr.

"Please, please stop arguing. I think we have nothing else to say to each other. Don't you think this is enough-"Love was saying, a pleading tone clear in his voice.

"Oh don't you start with this again! What gives you the right to-"Anger started ranting but was cut off by Happiness.

"Stop it! What is your problem? All he has are good intentions-"

"Why do you always take his side? Why do you always speak in his favor!? Can't he speak for himself? Is that it?"

"It is not like you would listen to him anyway! What do you have against a little happiness once in--"

"A little happiness!? A LITTLE HAPPINESS!? I have nothing against 'a little happiness'; what I don't have is a death wish! A trait that you two clearly don't share with me! And, do tell, when was the last time that freak did anything that didn't end in heartbreak or disaster!? When!? Name one time when either of your attempts didn't end in misery," Anger shouted, eyes burning. Happiness snapped his jaws shut. Any attempts at interrupting died a painful death at the other's last comment. He turned his head away, unable to look the man in the face. Love shifted from side to side, standing closer to Happiness. His head was down and he kept rubbing at his hands. Slim fingers traced the scars that were there.

"That is exactly what I thought," Anger murmured softly. His eyes lost their burning intensity. He suddenly turned his own head away.

"We just were not meant to be happy," came the dull voice of Reason.

Happiness's head suddenly snapped up and with a speed none of the task force, or Raito, expected him to have suddenly had one of the dull personalities by his bland gray shirt. "Shut up! Every human has the right to be happy! Every human has the right to search for happiness."

Yellow eyes burned against gray before Logic went over and firmly grabbed Happiness's hands and pried them away from his partner's clothes. "Yes. That may be so, but it does not mean that they ever will find it. You fight for a lost cause. Emotions are unstable. A human will always strive to be happy yet will lose it easily to other emotions. You cannot be happy forever. You cannot be sad forever. You can not love forever, so why try?" Logic said coldly. Happiness snatched his hands away from the other's grip.

Love seemed like he wanted to interrupt; to say something. Anything. Yet he didn't. All he did was bite his lip and trace the scars on the back of his hand, looking back and forth between Happiness, Logic and Reason.

"And what? Logic and reason last forever? If this is another one of your superiority speeches, spare me. I am not in the mood," Happiness said bitterly (ironic).

"Come to terms with it. We, as a person, are not meant to be happy. This has been proven over and over again over the course of our life," The twines chorused as one monotone.

It suddenly became very, very quiet. None of the personalities were looking at one another. All of them seemed lost in thought. The argument had finally died away to be replaced by something much worse.

Deep longing.

They had completely forgetting that Raito or the team were present, who were all now feeling very unsure of what to do with themselves and the situation. Child-ness had at one point managed to climb up into Raito's arms and currently had his head buried in the teen's shoulder. The men glanced at one another, trying to find a way to break the thick, dark mood.

The silence stretched on.

Mogi cleared his throat loudly.

Seven heads turned in his direction. Multi-colored eyes widened (except for the grays' whose actually narrowed) when faced with the realization that they had an advance.

_Well,_ Raito thought. _This went from being uncomfortable to downright awful..._

Happiness suddenly laughed. It was a high pitched and rather forced laugh; a nervous laugh.

Everyone stared at him.

He suddenly clapped his hands, making half of the task force jump (including Raito) at his sudden movement. His laughter became slightly higher. "Well then! That got… a bit out of hand didn't it?" The others just gave him a blank look.

He laughed again.

Happiness's hand then shot up and pointed in a random direction. "There!" The whole group looked at the direction he pointed, then back. "Let's go that way! Yes, yes we have lost enough time here chatting! Raito is back and everything is fine." He laughed. His other hand snatched Love's wrist and he began to drag the other in the direction he pointed. "Oh, this just will not do! No no! We've lost plenty of time, plenty of time! The others won't find themselves you know! No no they won't!"

The group watched him go, a confused-looking Love dragging behind him.

He had almost turned the corner when he noticed that there was no one following him.

Happiness turned and blinked. "Well, come one now! I can't move your legs for you! Come now!" And he disappeared around the corner of the building. Raito had a last glance at Love's disoriented face before it too disappeared around the corner.

…

…

"Well… that's one way to break the ice, ain't it?" Courage hummed. Clasping his hands behind his head he lazily followed after Happiness.

He then turned so that he was walking backwards, now facing the stupefied faces of personalities and humans alike. "You'd better follow or you'll get lost, or worse you'll lose them." With that he twirled on his heel and started walking forward again. He soon reached the same corner and disappeared around it.

Slowly the group started to follow, one by one. Aizawa hung back a bit before letting out a rather loud and exaggerated sigh. He rubbed his temples dramatically. "This place is soooo bad for my mental health…" he groaned before taking up the rear.

This was probably an even more awkward walk than the one he had with Sadness. Now everyone was present and the mass only made things weirder. The mood was a lot lighter than before, however, with Courage acting like the idiot he enjoyed playing and Matsuda _being_ the idiot he actually was. The poor cop tried to lift their spirits with light-hearted small talk, but failed miserably when hardly anyone answered him (Mogi surprisingly was the one who took up most of Matsuda's failed attempts at conversation. Whether it was out of kindness, pity or friendship Raito wasn't sure). Then there were Happiness's failed attempts to take their minds off of the rather personal (not so much more 'inner') fight that just occurred.

None of it distracted Raito. Though Child-ness tugging on his hair to get his attention was starting to bother him…

Who knew he would wake up this morning and end up in a reality like this? Show him more than he bargained for? He gave up trying to figure out how much more surprise here was to come. L never seemed depressed; not really. There were times when he liked to make a show out of it, but Raito had always thought it was just that: a show. He was starting to feel like L was a better actor than he ever could hope to be. I mean, who manages to hide all of _this_ behind a mask. One that he never really saw waver.

Then again, maybe he wasn't looking hard enough…

More than once had he caught the man staring into space. Of course, this was usually when the official work day was over. But there were times he'd seen L just stare blankly at his computer, eyes unseeing as he watched the data. Yet no mater how many times he tried to catch him daydreaming, it never worked. L would just wave it off and talk as if he had been paying attention all along.

He always imagined what L thought about at times like that. Was it his past? His future? People he knew? Something terrible that happened? Something terrible he thought was going to happen? (The man _was_ incredibly paranoid). Maybe he was predicting something? Raito even came up with a silly joke with himself that the man could see the future and that was his state of complete transition. In the end Raito just gave up and chocked it up to him thinking too deeply about the case.

Guess he was wrong.

He was beginning to see a bit too much here. And this was starting to fiddle with his feelings. That had to be the worst part. If his little epiphany wasn't bad enough, now he was beginning to feel like his emotions ran deeper than a simple crush. He'd never had the urge before to comfort someone. He'd never had the need to see if they felt better, not for his own interest but their own. If it ever happened it was for his sister, and that wasn't often at all. It never was for his self-proclaimed friend. Never for any (and let him emphasize that _ANY_ here) of his girlfriends.

But when he saw Love so disoriented in the middle of that argument… when he saw the pained expiration on Happiness's face or that hopeless look in Sadness's eyes...all of them an almost perfect odd-colored copy of the original. A piece of the original…

Raito felt something. Something powerful. Something that made him think of another person that was not himself. Something that made him want to, _need_ to, help the other.

It made him care.

And it scared Raito more than anything.

"-ito? Raito? Raito, you should pay more attention to--"

Raito didn't catch the last of the sentence for he walked face-first into a glass wall of one of the buildings.

"-Where you are going…" Child-ness finished. Raito rubbed his nose and glared down at the boy in his arms. He only looked up at him innocently.

"I did try to warn you," he said cutely. Raito only rolled his eyes.

"I think I see one of the others we are looking for." Mogi's gruff voice cut through the air and everyone turned in the direction he was looking at, to find that indeed there was another personality shuffling about, near a corner of a building.

This personality was the strangest yet--if that was possible. He was constantly mumbling to himself and was sitting in L's crouch as he seemed to scan the area. His shirt, however, was a beautiful shade of purple. Raito wondered if there was a dress shirt he could get in that color...

Errr.

Never mind the nice shade of purple of shirt; the rest of the man seemed to scream more than just 'socially retarded' in big flashy lights. It screamed 'Hermit! With a pinch of insanity!'. His movements were jerky, making Raito think of a street dog that had been beaten too many times and was traumatized. His hair was up in a way that looked like he constantly pulled at it, making it stand up on end and his clothes rumpled so badly he looked like he had been crammed in a box for too long.

When he walked he didn't stand up. Instead he kept in his crouch. It would have been rather funny if it didn't just add to the thought that the man was completely off his rocker…

"OH! Lookie here! It's Paranoia! OI! OIIIIIIII! Paranoia! Over here!" Courage seemed to have materialized in the front of the group and now was hopping around waving his arms trying to get the other's attention.

The man's head shot up, eyes trailing over the group. He started to move over and the closer he got the better Raito could see his face. If anything, the bags under his eyes looked to be double the size of the original; his eyes looked a lot wider too. They were a lovely shade of dark purple (if purple eyes could be called lovely that is…), which strangely only made him look more psychotic. They were very wild. Different from Anger. Anger had the wild look of a hungry lion ready to snap his jaws at anything that dared bother him. Paranoia had the eyes of a rabbit with a broken leg that was surrounded by at hunters at open hunting session.

"What is this?" he hissed when he was within hearing range.

"Oh, well it's a funny story actually, you see--" Matsuda started to chirp happily when a hand appeared in front of his face making him stop short.

"That was a rhetorical question," he snapped at Matsuda. It was impressive that even though the man was practically sitting on the floor he still had an aura that made people feel smaller than him; a characteristic he shared with the original L.

Paranoia turned in the general direction of most of the personalities. "Can you see the grand scale of disaster this could amount to? They have to leave. Now. This will end right now."

"Its not that easy," Child-ness piped up.

"Where have they been? Have they seen any of the files? They haven't gone through the underground have they!? Where have you been!?" Paranoia started shouting, grabbing the front of Raito's father's shirt and looking possessed.

"They have not been anywhere in which they could cause real or lasting damage. We have made sure of that. Now calm yourself," Logic said dully.

Paranoia unclenched his hands from the front of Soichiro's shirt but then his eyes landed on Raito. "And the boy. What about the boy?" he asked, giving Raito a look as if trying to see through him.

"It is fine."

He continued to look at Raito. The teen shifted uncomfortably. He then tore his eyes way to gaze at Logic and Reason. "I do not believe you," he said finally.

"…yeah, well, you're Paranoia and you don't trust anyone anyway so…" Courage said, shrugging.

Paranoia's eyes narrowed. "Nothing good comes from trusting anyone." He sneered.

"Maybe. But sometimes don't you think you go a little teensy-weensy overboard?" Courage asked, bringing his hand in front of his face with his thumb and pointer finger millimeters apart to illustrate his point.

"Name a few. I have never gone overboard. I was all for protection. I value the only life I have," Paranoia replied, eyes wandering from Courage to Raito then stopping on Love, narrowing as if saying, 'you don't'. Love looked away and purple eyes made their way back to dark green.

Courage gave him a look of 'are you serious?' "Well, if you really want me to name a few…" Courage pointed one finger to the other, ticking one off. "We sleep only two hours every 46 hours because you are afraid that any longer and we will wake up dead tomorrow; only sleeping because no sleep will eventually lead to death anyway…"

"This job is very dangerous. You never know who will try to take your life. It is not at all 'overboard'."

"Very well. You have all the making of the food supervised, if not made by, Watari because you think someone will poison it otherwise."

"He sometimes has the ingredients tested just to make sure," Happiness commented off-handedly. Courage nodded his head.

"You can never be too cautious."

Courage lifted an eyebrow. "Yeah… sure. You have made us build between 25 to 100 bomb shelters capable of sustaining a nuclear war in 65 different countries 'just in case'."

"You know what they say. 'Better safe than sorry'."

Courage slapped his forehead. "You make us buy a new toothbrush every day. From the store. No such thing as storage."

"You cannot be too cautious," Paranoia repeated.

"You bug every telephone, house, neighbor's house, car, school and work place of all employees we've ever had to make sure there are no conspiracy theories against us."

"Again, a very real problem."

"Learning 27 different languages?"

"Trust no one, especially when you have no idea what they say. Translators? HA! Unreliable. All homo-sapiens should never be trusted."

Courage sighed. "Fine, yet you rely on Watari; hypocrite…" Courage muttered at the end but Raito heard it loud and clear. Courage suddenly thrust his hands out and wiggled his thumb and pointer finger in front of Paranoia's face.

"How about chemically burning off your finger-prints from your own fingertips?"

"Not to mention the whole soles for our feet," Raito heard Happiness whisper to Love from behind him.

Before Paranoia even opened his mouth to answer, Matsuda blurted out, "WHAT!?"

Paranoia turned to him. "But of course. What? Did you think I hold objects this way for fun?" Paranoia asked. Matsuda just stared with an expression of 'are you mad?'

"OH, no no no! It is quite hard to move objects like this, you know. Your fingers have no muscles. It makes it incredibly hard to move heavier objects. They are only tendons, bone, fat and flesh you know. You have to be very skilled," Paranoia said.

The team just looked blankly at him.

"…why?" Aizawa asked.

"With the technology today you can trace so much back with fingerprints! I will not take any chances!"

Silence.

"…so why didn't you do it to all your fingers?" Matsuda finally asked.

"It hurts like a bitch, that's why," Anger grumbled.

"You're telling me. We passed out when they did our feet," Happiness once again whispered to Love, who in turn shivered with unpleasant memories.

Paranoia ignored them. "I will not lose my identity completely," he said simply.

Silence once more.

"And I thought he couldn't get any stranger…" Aizawa sighed.

"Well then, that was… errr, yeah… we should be going now," Happiness suggested.

The group surged and started to move again. Paranoia whispered, "I've got my eye on you," as he passed Raito while he 'walked' in his strange crouch.

Raito blinked at his retreating back and his eyes met with those of Logic and Reason as they passed by. _Yeah, join the club_, he thought sourly, readjusting Child-ness in his arms.

They walked for a while but during the whole time Aizawa kept shooting Paranoia looks until finally he asked (though he was sure he would regret it later), "I'm afraid to ask… but why do you walk like that?"

Paranoia glanced up at him before stopping, effectively stopping Aizawa and the rest of the group as well.

However instead of giving him an answer, his leg suddenly zoomed out from underneath him and hit Aizawa behind his knees, which sent him flying before falling flat on his back, knocking all the air out of his lungs.

Matsuda let out a rather emasculating squeak at the sight and before any of them knew it Paranoia was hovering over Aizawa's prone form.

"Do you know how open to attack you are when you stand upright? This was only a demonstration of what could happen if I stood up straight. But you also leave your chest open to attack;" he poked Aizawa, "your stomach;" _poke, _"your neck;" _poke,_ "there are just so many options to choose from!" _poke poke poke poke poke poke_.

"Stop poking me you freak!" Aizawa yelled as he tried to bat the prying sharp fingers from prodding at his body, meanwhile squirming on the floor.

It was a rather sad, humiliating and pitiful sight.

…

Yet absolutely hilarious at the same time.

"GET AWAY FROM ME!"

_Poke poke poke._ "See? Imagine if this was a knife or a bullet? Walking like this is very much safer." _Poke poke poke._

"ARRRGH!"

Soichiro and Mogi seemed torn between helping their fallen friend or keeping in laughter. Matsuda, on the other hand, seemed to have made his decision and was doing a poor job of trying to keep his snickers quiet.

Raito covered his eyes and shook his head. How did these men become policemen again?

"I SWEAR TO GOD I'LL BREAK YOUR DAMN NECK! GET OFF OF ME! OFF! NOW!" _Poke poke poke._

… These were the men meant to catch Kira?

"WHAT ARE YOU IDIOTS LOOKING AT?! PULL THIS MORON OFF ME!" _Poke poke poke poke._

"Bwhahahahaha!" his father and the rest of his men (except Aizawa, of course) burst out laughing at the poor cop's misery.

"I HATE YOU ALL!" _Poke poke poke._

…

…

…the world was doomed.

Child-ness was tensing in his arms, head turning from side to side as if looking for something. "Hey, Paranoia? Where's Fear?" the boy asked out of the blue.

Paranoia stopped prodding to look around. Raito could have sworn that his large pupils dilated to pin-pricks since if his already-wide eyes got any larger they would probably pop out of his head.

Aizawa sat up, now free from the questionably sane personality. He rubbed his head and dusted himself off, all the while looking like he was doing his best not to outright strangle the other with his bare hands.

Paranoia then shot up, surprising everyone after his little speech only moments ago. "Fear? Fear? Fear?!" he started calling out, swinging his head in every direction looking for a personality that wasn't there. He looked even more like a wild animal; scared and unaware of his surroundings.

Paranoia suddenly turned on his heels and sprinted off down the road before making a sharp right turn, leaving everyone behind.

"Paranoia, wait!" Child-ness cried, squirming out of Raito's arms. Hopping to the ground, he ran after the purple-eyed man.

"Oh great! Just, just great!" Anger snarled, following the little orange form.

Soon everyone was on the run after the runaway personality.

Raito groaned. He should have seen this coming…


	11. Brown

…HI…DON'T KILL ME! (if I still have readers that is…) I bring you a new Chapter! YAY! I think you might want an explanation of why it took me soooo long but instead of writing my life story I'll be short and sweet. Graduation. I graduated school so… haven't been home much. No home = no computer = no chapter. So it is all over now the IBs and all.

But what you really want to hear is. I'll have more time to write now. But don't expect much. Really. But! I do have a fan art! Link on profile.

Oh. And I have no idea about medicine, so if I get something wrong forgive me.

One more thing. GO BRASIL! Going for that 6th star baby! Hell yah!

With all that said, forgive me and on with the chapter! Read & Review

**Brown**

"Fear is but a four letter word"… then it must be one scary word.

_Was this getting repetitive, or was it just him?_ Raito thought to himself as he ran down the now rather familiar marble road (considering they all looked about the same, it wasn't all that surprising.) This was getting ridiculous.

"Uhhh, is there a reason why Paranoia - just ran - ran off like that?" Matsuda asked while running, breathing labored as he tried to keep up with the much faster personalities.

The entire group had their eyes glued to the retreating purple figure. "Well, you see, Fear and Paranoia are much like Logic and Reason. Almost inseparable," Happiness answered absent-mindedly.

"In a 'might as well be joined at the hip' kind of inseparable…" Courage added.

Paranoia made a sharp turn, causing most of the group to run into each other. They all scrambled apart as fast as they could, doing their best not to lose sight of the slippery personality.

Happiness continued once they were untangled. "But the relationship is much different from that of Logic and Reason. The twins are basically two lines in the same paragraph, with only the bare minimum of differences to distinguish them from being the same person..."

"Paranoia and Fear on the other hand have more of a brotherly relationship," Child-ness finished.

"Indeed. Paranoia is beyond super-protective of Fear. It comes to the point where he becomes violent. You can call it a self-defense mechanism if you will. Self preventing anything from happening to oneself so as to never feel that chilling terror and despair."

'"Fear is one of the strongest emotions you can feel," Love said so quietly Raito wondered if he was the only one who had heard him. "He can overpower any emotion if the feeling is strong enough. All else pales in comparison. Love. Hope. Rationality. Logic. Happiness. Nothing will survive the great power that is full-blown, soul-gripping, horror," Love finished.

Raito swallowed thickly and turned another corner with the group. It was true. Fear had the power to do so much to a person. Anyone. Phobias were a clear example of this. Hell, the world changes because of that one emotion. Dictatorship was an example. People hardly will fight for themselves if they fear for their life. Control could easily be run purely on fear. Kira was doing it right now.

"That is why I find it rather strange that Paranoia was wandering around alone."

Suddenly the group halted, causing most of them (mainly Matsuda) to bump into each other (again). Raito managed to unsqueeze himself from between the sandwich of bodies and look over at why they had stopped.

Only a few meters away he saw Paranoia rush over to what could only be described as a person-shaped ball. He was sitting in L's normal crouch except he actually was sitting on the floor instead of hovering over it, as L would normally do. He looked like he was trying to make himself as small and unnoticeable as possible; head tucked between his knees and arms wrapped tightly around his legs. His back was firmly pressed to the glass wall behind him. All you could see was his jeans, mud-brown shirt, and hair poking out.

When Paranoia reached him he collapsed in front of the new personality. On his knees, the wild eyed man touched lightly the arm of the other, trying to get his attention. It seemed to work. Saggy black hair lifted and when Fear caught sight of who it was, launched himself forward, embracing the purple-eyed man and possibly squeezing him to death.

And for some inexplicable reason, Raito felt jealousy.

A lot of it.

It was strange really. Not the fact he was jealous (he has been jealous before. Though it was every other blue moon, really.) But more for the fact there really wasn't an actual motive for him to be jealous_. _Maybe because L had never huggedhim that way_. _Yeah, but L never hugged_ anyone _that way. (Or hugged in general)He once again questioned his mental health. It was like L was hugging himself. He wondered briefly if that what it looked like when real live twins hugged. His eyes wondered over to Logic and Reason. He then shook his head. The day the two of them hug will be the day Aizawa would put a on a tutu and samba down the street.

…

…

…

…Dear lord he needed more sleep. Baaaad mental image! Baaaaad! Maybe an aspirin, a very long holiday, and as well…

Paranoia and Fear separated. Fear climbed to his feet while Paranoia resumed his normal stance of when they met him. Both of them were talking softly to one another, seemingly unaware of the group watching them.

Matsuda was the first to step forward. The rest followed reluctantly. The pair noticed their presence and looked up. This permitted Raito to have a better look at Fear. The phrase 'deer caught in the headlights' never seemed more fitting. This personality had large brown deer eyes. The kind that always seemed to shimmer with unshed tears. He was hunched like L but to almost a 90-degree angle. Raito's own back hurt at the sight of it. It was as if the man was trying to curl into a ball while standing up. His shirt, like all the others, matched his eyes. But it was smudged with multiple shades of brown, as if rolled around in mud that dried off at different rates.

The moment Fear laid eyes on them he seemed to shrink away, afraid of the group. However, the moment his eyes landed on Raito he actually scampered behind Paranoia, and peaked up over his purple shirt at them.

The team lifted an eyebrow at that, looking over at Raito who just shrugged in response.

Out of nowhere Courage jumped up and broke the… well, weirdness in the air." Well! I guess introductions are in order? Dear investigators and love interest, I present you Fear! Ta-da!" he made a sweaping motion with his hand at the personality who did not seem too happy at being placed in the spotlight. And by the glares Courage was receiving, neither did Paranoia.

Fear ducked down more behind Paranoia's back, so now only his eyes were visible. Courage frowned. "Come on now. Don't be shy! Say hi! I promise they don't bite!… well, actually I do have my doubts about Aizawa…" Courage grinned wildly. Aizawa only sneered at the energetic personality.

Fear looked over at Courage and back a few times before slowly un-knotting his hand from Paranoia's shirt and waving it cautiously as if he expected one of them to reach out and chomp his hand off at any given moment.

Matsuda, being the friendliest one in the whole group, sensed the hesitance in Fear and decided it was a good idea to try and make the other comfortable.

Much like it's a good idea to poke a sleeping lion to see if it will play with you.

"Hi there. It's okay, we won't hurt you. Why don't you come out here and-" Matsuda started to say as he slowly made his way towards Fear. Which turned out to be one of his less successful ideas. Because when he reached out to Fear, the personality let out a squeak/ whimper, fell back and covered his head. Instantly Paranoia had the young cop on his front, both hands pinned to his back by a thin white hand, and a bony knee digging painfully into the small of his back.

"…Ow."

"That was not too smart now, was it?" Logic said (or Reason.)

"No," the other agreed.

"It was not an exaggeration when we informed you that Paranoia is overprotective. To avoid bodily harm I suggest you stay away from Fear to the best of your ability," finished Reason (or Logic.)

"Paranoia, unhand that man this instant. We have places to go. He is harmless," the twins mentioned off-handedly.

"Yes, and we can't very well go anywhere with poor Matsuda pinned to the ground like that," Happiness commented, rubbing the back of his neck.

Paranoia hissed, baring his teeth like a dog with rabies. "He was going to touch Fear, he was going to hurt him. I should break his wrists." Matsuda squeaked when the man over him started applying more pressure to his restrained arms.

Happiness stepped in. "Whoa, whoa, whoa there buddy! Let's not go breaking people's arms here! You are aware this is Matsuda right?" _Squeak, crack._ "OKAY! You don't care, I get it!" The yellow-eyed man put his hands on the other's shoulders and slowly tried to pray him off. " Okay, now let go of Matsuda. Come on."_ Growl._ "Come on. He was only trying to be helpful." _Tug, tug._ "Uh, guys? A little help here?"

Child-ness hopped over and started yanking on the purple-eyed personality's fingers. However, almost five minutes into it there was no change. Well, except Paranoia's snapping of his jaws at Child-ness and Fear peeking from between his fingers a safe distance away. It soon became clear that the two personalities would be needing a lot more help if the group ever wanted to get going.

So Courage did the most logical thing.

He flopped over all three.

Matsuda was able to roll away from the now-fighting foursome on the floor, hastily getting to his feet and hiding behind Mogi's large frame. Raito sighed as shouts come from the pile on the floor.

He looked over at Fear, frowning slightly. This was someone he wasn't quite expecting to meet. L never seemed to feel fear. Not with the way he acted. But then again, he never expressed any other emotion before. Fear was so humanizing. This whole experience had shown him that L functioned just the way everybody else did. He just hid and covered it better.

Much, much better.

Like Raito himself, but the teen did it with social grace, all too much charm, an unbelievably sharp tongue, an even sharper mind and good looks. L, L did it another way.

With self-imposed isolation, cold exteriors and dull uncaring words that spoke of depth and understanding. Always staring. In complete control. Someone apart from society. Not above or below humanity, but a simple bystander who was able to see it all from a distance. He knew all. No one could hide under well-oiled charisma or fake, empty sweet talk. Always staring with eyes reflecting everything back to the looker. Letting nothing come through. A still surface with emotions fighting for dominance underneath.

Always staring.

At some point Fear had looked over at the teen. Their eyes had met and the personality scattered back at the capable look the young boy had on his face. A starving hyena. The teen seemed in a trance. He started coming forward, the personality going back at the same rate. Fear soon hit a wall, cornered under that hungry gaze.

Yes. Fear was different from all the others. He was a human driving force. The underlying wheels of what made society turn. What made humanity human.

He was a weakness. A flaw. An opening.

He could crack L open.

His face, L's face, was that of pure terror. Like he could read the teen's mind, Raito could just about…

A hand fell roughly on his shoulder. "Son, are you all right?"

Just like that it was gone, like a monster withdrawing from the light.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"You were acting a little… off," his father said gently, fatherly concern written all over his face and tone.

"HA! 'A little off' he says. It was downright creepy if you ask me," Anger snorted gruffly, then muttered lowly, "Then they still insist the kid is innocent. Got 'crazy maniac' painted all over him in bright neon but _nooooo_, what do _I _know? Maybe when the kid finally loses it and slits our damn throats they _might consider _the fact that he's a mass murdering nut job. _'Oh look! L is dead.' 'Who was it?' 'I think it was Raito.' 'Now why would you say that?' 'Well, he _is _still holding the weapon of the murder, and he _is _currently on all fours licking the blood around the body while chanting _"Yes, the blood from my enemy will make me stronger. Well make me immortal! I shall be a god now. Yes, the world will be mine! All of you shall bow down to me! Yes," _and laughing manically…' 'Hmmm, well that is a good point you make there. But you know what? Raito is such a good boy. Let's give him the benefit of the doubt, shall we?'_ I'm surrounded by incompetent, blind, soft hearted-" muter muter muter. Anger's voice got lower and lower as he started walking around muttering to himself.

Raito blinked before looking around. The whole group was looking at him with strange expressions on their faces. Soichiro had 'overprotective father' stamped on his forehead. Aizawa and Mogi had a look of deep suspicion (if not creeped out). Matsuda, Happiness and Child-ness had thoughtful expressions on their faces as if they were trying to figure him out. Anger was still pacing about muttering angrily to himself and Courage had a very blank look on his face (which was rather disturbing). Sadness had a tragic look, eyes filled with slight longing, like a mouth to the fire - wishing to get closer but not wanting to get burned.

Love, on the other hand, couldn't look at him in the face. His eyes roamed everywhere, never once landing anywhere near Raito, and his lip was being so constantly chewed on the teen was afraid the skin would split.

Paranoia on the other hand was looking murderous. The only thing holding him back were the three hands attached to the helm of his shirt. Logic and Reason had a rather dull look on their identical faces (no surprise there) except their eyes were glittering with accusation. Fear, now rolled into the ball they had first seen him in, had his eyes fully locked on Raito. He was trembling slightly, all in all, the real personification of fear.

Raito scrubbed his eyes viciously, then ran both hands through his hair, tugging on the strands slightly.

"Son?"

"I'm fine. I'm fine… just-"

"Tired?" Anger snorted. "Let the boy turn on his puppy dog eyes of _'I'm so innocent'_ and they all melt like ice in summer…" he continued to grumble but the others ignored him. Including Raito.

"- I guess I'm just stressed. You know, with… everything. Life. It must be getting to me…"

Anger looked like he was about to say something but Courage slapped his hand over his mouth.

"Hummm, you know, this is kinda uncomfortable. How about we let it drop? Everybody knows the boy is crazy. He was only taking a trip down to the nutty town, but he is back now so everything will be ooooookay. Right? Raito-kun?" Though his tone was filled with lighthearted humor, Courage's face was still completely blank (which was a very L-like skill).

Raito shifted from one foot to the other. Before he even conjured the words to reply, Courage's face split into a big eye-stinging smile. Raito (as well as the rest of the group) took a step back. "Wonderful!" he turned to Paranoia who was still being held down by Child-ness and Happiness. He patted him on the shoulder. "Why don't you get deer-eyes over here and we can all set off!" Courage put his hands behind his head and started whistling a cheer filled tune, walking away.

"I don't think I have ever agreed in coming with you," Paranoia growled as he picked Fear up, glaring over at the retiring dark green back.

Courage swirled around now with his hands behind his back. He crocked his head to the side. "You didn't?" He kicked out his leg, then hummed, tapping his chin with his finger as if he was deep in thought., eyes turned upwards. "Oh well." He shrugged. "You're coming along anyway! It's not like you two have anywhere else to be so…" Courage waved them up.

Courage then swirled around again and started whistling again. He then pointed to the side. "I think we should all go this way! YAY!" Then he skipped off.

The group started to follow, Raito lagging behind (but still far enough away from Paranoia and Fear so not to get his head bitten off. Again).

"Is it me, or is it every time something suspicious, weird, or slightly disturbing happens, one of the emotions blows it off or tries distracting us?" Raito heard Matsuda whisper to Mogi.

Mogi nodded. "For feelings, they don't like to talk or sort themselves out much, do they?" he replied.

But Raito was only listening with half an ear. His attention turned to his own display of emotion a little while ago. It was… worrying.

Okay, so maybe he was downplaying it a bit. _Freaky_ might have fit better but Raito didn't appreciate the vocabulary all that much. In the end it didn't matter, really. What did matter was this revelation of an inner-predator. Raito knew he was manipulative. He knew he had somewhat of a superiority complex (and why shouldn't he? He _was_ awesome! Smart, handsome, perfect in every way. Overachieving in everything he tried…)

And it didn't guilt him to use a little visibility to his advantage. But never before had he felt such an overpowering… _want,_ a thirst - almost blood lust - to dig into someone's weaknesses, so much that it overcame him and broke through the surface.

Raito trussed his hands in his hair again, messed up his perfectly organized locks. It is said that ignorance is bliss and knowledge is power. Well at the moment he was the furthest away from felling bliss, and completely powerless. Discovering himself shouldn't be this frightening.

But, like any good human, Raito decided denial was the way to go. Why face a problem when you can ignore it until it blows up horribly in your face? And, being the convincing young man he was, he reasoned his way out of thinking there was anything wrong with him. Because there wasn't.

He was stressed.

He was tired.

He was restless.

He was hungry.

He was out of his comfort zone.

He was in a different reality.

He was fine.

Perfectly fine.

Perfectly.

Fine.

… Perfectly fine.

"Raito, if you bite your lip any harder you will rip it off."

The teen looked down at the honey-orange eyes of Child-ness and released his now-stinging lip from its painful hold under his rather sharp teeth.

The boy crocked his head to one side then the other. Raito expected him to comment or ask him what was wrong but he just gave him a cute smile and skipped off to hold Love's hand.

Was that boy really a part of the detective? Hard to believe that anything (cute and cuddly) like Child-ness could be part of such a detached and seemingly cold person like L.

But then again, no one knows how holding up a social mask could amazingly deceive better then Raito himself. So maybe he should stop asking and start accepting.

Without him noticing the group reached the edge of the glass city and stopped.

Matsuda looked around. "So… should we turn back? We kinda ran out of city here."

Courage stepped over to where marble floor met 'sand'. Shading his eyes from the harsh white light shining over the land, he then swung around. "Hey, I have an idea! Let's go underground! We still haven't gone there. It's a good place to look and I think I see one of the entrances over there."

"No," Logic and Reason said at the same time. Paranoia tensed.

Courage seemed to slump at the rejection to his 'great' idea. "Why not?" he whined loudly.

"Are you insane man! Do you even know why it is you're so jesting? Or did you forget what is down there?" Paranoia had detached himself from the crushing grip of Fear and was currently shaking Courage, shouting and apparently trying to rattle common sense into the personality.

"I…don't …see…what… the …problem…is." Courage's response came out brokenly since his head was being rattled like a maraca. He pulled Paranoia's hands away from his shirt and stilled his bobbing head. "I really don't see the problem. We are looking for everyone so it only makes since we go downstairs as well."

"You idiot! That is Memory Lane! Who the hell do you think we'll find down there!"

"…The last one who is missing?"

"He does have a point you know. Jealousy does tend to spend a lot of time down there," Sadness replied airily, eyes looking lazily up at the sky.

"Don't any of you even think of the consequences of what you are implying? No! Nonononono!" Paranoia started ranting and throwing a hissy fit.

"Memory Lane? Isn't that a western song?" Matsuda asked, but like always, was ignored.

""Memories?" Soichiro asked.

"Yep. Like the name implies it's a long winding corridor that spider webs itself everywhere underground," Happiness commented.

"Whatever gets us out of here fast," Aizawa grunted with his arms crossed.

"Look, if you guys are afraid of what they will be learning, we can always tip-toe around that. No need to get so hysterical." Courage hummed, putting his hand behind his head again, the perfect picture of relaxed.

"HYSTERICAL! I'LL SHOW YOU HYSTERICAL!" Paranoia shouted, lunging at the other like a runaway bull.

Courage squeaked, relaxed front crumbling in the face of physical pain. He hopped over Child-ness and ran, Paranoia chasing him in circles around the group.

"Why do I sometimes feel like we are stuck in badly sponsored cartoon instead of a rather inconceivable reality?" Mogi asked, as he dully watched the spectacle going on.

"Because life as a policeman has only gone downhill since Kira appeared, nothing can be considered normal when Ryuzaki is involved, and God is a sadistic jerk who likes to watch people like us, especially me, suffer," Aizawa replied, scrubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands.

Mogi turned to him with a surprised look on his face. "Not the answer I was looking for but I accept it. However, I wasn't aware you were Catholic, Shuichi."

"Yes, but I'm starting to think about going Atheist. Because all my praying sure as hell isn't getting me anywhere."

Mogi only smiled at him.

Aizawa scowled. "What are you smiling at!"

"Nothing, nothing at all."

"As much as this pointless distraction has been so helpful, can we move? I'm starting to feel violent, and you will not like me when I'm violent. People get hurt," Anger growled. He then extended his arm out which Courage ran right into, knocking him back, which in turn knocked Paranoia back. They both fell over.

Unfortunately, that didn't startle Paranoia enough to stop him. He just wrapped his legs around the other's waist and his arms around the other's neck. Courage then began to make dramatic choking noises and flailing his legs in the air. He began clawing at purple-covered arms.

Anger's eye began to twitch. He growled out loud and started kicking the pair struggling on the floor.

"…So much for not kicking a man when he's down…" Matsuda murmured.

"Strangely enough I find myself immune to all of this."

"I guess seeing them fight with each other has lost its first shock and now only has become a routine…"

Raito sighed. "Well, I'm not sure about the rest of you but I feel like we should take the first steps towards our next destination. Hopefully they will follow. I do not feel quite up to sitting out and waiting for things to resolve themselves and more than likely being caught up in another distraction."

"I agree. I've had enough of these foolish games. I say we just go."

There was a murmured discussion before the task force and Raito started walking out to where Courage had pointed. The other personalities (that weren't involved in killing each other) surged and followed, Logic and Reason whispering frantically at each other, planning how to go about the next step in their route.

That is, all except Fear.

That soon was noticed by Happiness who looked back. Then Child-ness, who did the same. Soon everyone was looking backwards.

"I'm not going out there," Fear said in a small voice that seemed to crack at the end. He had his hands clapped close to his chest, back covered.

"What? Why not?" Matsuda asked

Fear just shook his head in answer, taking a step backwards.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" Aizawa huffed. He then stomped over to the shivering personality and grabbed his wrist forcefully, apparently learning nothing from Matsuda's attempt beforehand... or just not caring.

"Aizawa, I don't think this is the wisest of ideas…" Matsuda mumbled, while he kept shooting uneasy glances at the still-fighting threesome on the ground. Paranoia was still trying to strangle Courage but was becoming a more difficult task since he was multitasking; biting Anger's shin at the same time. The red-eyed personality was shouting obscenities, shaking his leg in a hopeless effort to get the other off.

"Aizawa-san, you should really take into consideration your actions at the moment. They might be a little harsh and-" Love tried intervening but the officer ignored him.

"Come on! There is nothing to be afraid of. It's just a little sand… and glass… the point is, there is nothing out there that will hurt you!" He began tugging on Fear's arm. It was to no avail though; the personality just shrank more into itself, ducking his head.

Aizawa growled and applied more force. The other personalities began to try and give their opinions as well. However, Raito had to agree with Aizawa. Fear was being irrational.

…

…

Hmmm, point taken.

Okay, so trying to see logic in Fear's actions wasn't a good idea. But Raito just didn't understand why the personality refused to venture out into the desert look-alike.

There was nothing there! It was just sand, sand and more sand! A big load of nothing away from the city. Nothing to the right. Nothing to the left. Nothing up or down! Nothing all around!

Nothing to be afraid of! Just a big, wide-open space! A wide space with nothing in it! A wide space… empty… space…

…

…Oh.

…Ohhhhhhhh!

Well that explained a lot now, didn't it?

"Aizawa! Aizawa stop! I think he has Agoraphobia!"

"Agor- what? Raito, what are you talking about!" Before Raito had a chance to answer a loud sniff was heard. All attention was drawn to the shaking form of Fear. The personality had stopped struggling when Aizawa has stopped trying to pull at him, and was now just standing there with his head down and hand up to his mouth.

When he noticed the sudden quiet, he looked up. The task force and Raito were stupefied to see fat tears in his deer-eyes.

The personality wiped at his cheek with the back of his sleeve. "Please, please don't make me go out there…" Fear pleaded, then sniffed again.

Aizawa just stared at him, completely stunned. Then he simply let the man's wrist go. His own hand fell limply at his side.

"Agoraphobia, right. I'm guessing that… that is fear of open spaces, right Raito?" Aizawa asked in a defeated tone.

"…Yeah."

"Oh."

_Well, _Raito thought to himself, _another piece to explain L's bizarre behavior is revealed…_ Agoraphobia. Who would have guessed? However, if you gave it some thought, it actually made since didn't it? No man could spend that much time cooped up in an apartment/ hideout/ HQ without a very good reason. And irrational fear did fall under that category.

But that was not all. Agoraphobia patients could also show signs of other phobias such as Social Phobia, which, as the name implied, was the dodging of social situations mostly by fear of embarrassment. (Though in L's case the trigger might be something else…) and Separation Anxiety Disorder, which involved the patient's avoidance of leaving home or relatives. Which really did fit Ryuzaki in oh so many ways… mostly people who have Agoraphobia try to avoid situations where they have little control. And that also screamed _L _in many ways.

Now Raito was beating himself up for never having noticed such a thing. It seemed so obvious now.

Raito was brought out of his mental nagging when Aizawa was suddenly tackled to the floor. The man looked up to the face of a very pissed off Paranoia.

"I had enough of you people!" Paranoia hissed like an abused snake. Having freed himself from the other two, he stomped over, embraced the sniveling Fear, and shushed him before facing the group again. "You people disgust me." And with that last comment they disappeared.

Literally. One minute they were there, the next, both Paranoia and Fear disappeared.

"Wow! Did any of you see that? Tell me you saw that too!"

"Yes Matsuda, calm down." Soichiro patted the younger officer on the shoulder but all the while was staring at the spot the personalities used to be.

Matsuda didn't seem to hear what was said to him since he was inching closer with his hand stretched out as far as it would go and swinging it around as if expecting it to hit something unseen.

"Okay, what just happened here?" Raito asked

"They shimmered."

The task force and Raito looked over to Logic and Reason. Happiness noticed that the twins weren't going to explain any further, and sighed. "It is simple really. 'Shimmering' is the fast way to get around here. It's the way emotions reveal themselves quickly. Not unlike mood swings."

"…Mood swing?" Mogi asked.

Happiness nodded. "Yeah, well have you ever felt happy one second and completely depressed the other? That is what shimmering is at its most basic."

"Yeah! I have done it several times today!" Courage said with gusto. Then to demonstrate he 'shimmered'.

"Hello love." Raito froze at the sickeningly sweet purr in his ear. Arms tightly fastened around his torso suddenly. He instinctively elbowed the owner of the voice in the stomach.

"Oh, so feisty, I like that!" Courage coughed out, a large grin on his face. Raito rolled his eyes.

"Wait! So you are telling us you people can simply teleport anywhere you want at any time and you didn't tell us this why! You made us scale a freaking 100 floor building by stairs!" Aizawa cried in utter outrage.

All personalities looked at each other then back, shrugging as a group. "Didn't seem important," Happiness said simply. "Plus, emotions can only transport other emotions. So it really wouldn't have helped anyway."

Aizawa hung his head sadly, going to sulk in a corner. "Well, 'shimmering' or not, what we have to focus on now is the fact that we lost two personalities which can be anywhere, and if I recall correctly, we can't get out without them," Soichiro said impatiently, crossing his arms.

"Errrr…so…anyone got any suggestions?" Matsuda asked impishly, looking around hopefully. No one answered.

Soichiro rubbed his eyes with his thick fingers. "All right, I can see this is not going anywhere. So this is what we're going to do. I will separate all of us into three groups. We will split up and look. We will all have an officer and a personality in every group so it is balanced, and no one should get lost. Now, we will all meet at the Kira building since it is visible from all points of the city and outside. That way there is no chance of any of us getting lost for long. Now the group will be as follows."

"Group one: Aizawa, Mogi, Anger and Sadness. Group two: myself, Love, Courage, Logic and Reason. Group three: Raito, Matsuda, Happiness and Child-ness. Group one will cover north; Group two West; and Group three south. We will all go east when we finish or find the missing personalities. Unfortunately we have no means of communication and this will only make the scouting longer so be done as quickly as possible. If we do not find them during this first try we will re-group and move to the next."

"…And if we don't find them? After all that?"

"…We shall cross that bridge if we get there. At the moment we're operating on the idea that we will find them for sure. All right, separate into the designated groups and we will start."

Soichiro's true leadership skills shown through at a moment of need.

They all did as told without complaint (though there was an awful lot of muttering going on, especially from Anger). Mogi slowly approached Soichiro, putting his hand on the man's shoulder.

"Not to impose… but are you sure mixing two hotheads in the same group is a good idea?"

Both men looked over their shoulders to see Anger and Aizawa in a glaring contest. Soichiro sighed. "Probably not, but quite frankly we have few options and I wanted every team to have one of the force for safe keeping. That why I'm trusting _you_ to keep them all level-headed."

Mogi raised an eyebrow. "Me?"

"You are the most patient person I know Kanzo; if anyone can do it, it is you. And to tell you the truth, I'm at the end of my rope here. I'm not sure how much more of this asylum I can endure. At lest with creepy twin one and creepy twin two the bouncing ball of green energy will be more under control. As long as there is one person who can think straight in every group we'll be fine."

He moved off and Mogi went to his designated group. "Okay, let's move out." The groups separated.

Raito couldn't believe it. Was his father trying to kill him? He was going to drown in positive energy. This what it would probably be like to be crushed by an avalanche of teddy bears, flowers, candy and rainbows. Matsuda, Happiness _and_ Child-ness? He had to be glad his father was merciful enough no to throw in Courage as well - because then it would be a real party.

There was a poke at his side and the teen looked down only to find honey -orange eyes staring back at him. Of course. The boy wanted to be carried. Why walk on his own two feet when he could get someone else to do the work? Hmm, maybe Child-ness had more in common with L than he was giving him credit for… Raito shook his head but bent down and picked the boy up anyway.

He just prayed they would find the two missing idiots soon. If not to get out then just so that Raito could get his hands around their necks for making his life harder and more miserable than it already was…


	12. Neon Green: Part A

*Faints, wakes ups, dies, is revived* I LOVE YOU ALL! When I posted this story I wasn't expecting to get even 100 Reviews. But look at that! I get 200! You people are too good to me! It even went over 200! You're going to make me cry! Thank you for taking your time to review. And to all the silent readers out there thank you to you to.

And because you are all so beautiful I up date as fast as I could! More YAY! *throws confetti*

And If you call now I will throw in with this new chapter a *gasps* **Fan art**! Curtsey of Mrs. Cassidy304! Reviews AND fan art! You spoil me you do. Fan art can be seen on my profile.

Now I shall stop yapping in your ear. (Doubt many of you read these anyway. but if you do, LOOOOOOVE YOU :P) just happy today. On with the chapter…

* * *

**Neon Green: Part A**

Down Memory Lane

Raito always considered himself a patient person. You had to be when you had a younger sister (especially if that younger sister was Sayu. It was like the girl couldn't do anything on her own!) But this, this was going beyond testing his patience.

At the moment Happiness was skipping ahead while humming to himself. (Raito wasn't sure but it sounded like something from The Lion King.) Child-ness was still being carried by the teen. The boy had gone back to pulling his hair at every given moment. Though it wasn't as annoying as it sounds seeing as he'd been doing it for HALF of the trip while Happiness skipped around humming whatever came to mind and Matsuda tried to make conversation and failed miserably. Then tried it all over again. Why? Because he was Matsuda and he wanted people to be happy and get along.

Quite frankly, this could get on anyone's nerves.

The Little L tugged on an already sore spot on his head. Raito could not help but flinch in pain. Then he heard amused giggles. He sighed.

* * *

This couldn't be happening. It just couldn't.

"-And you should have seen the look on his face! But then again after throwing up in front of like ten police officers, I think you can imagine-"

Raito covered his eyes and tried maintaining some form of sanity. Which was becoming harder and harder at every word that slipped out of Matsuda's mouth.

"Oh, the chief was torn between pity and embarrassment! He was having the most trouble getting little Raito out of the closet! He just didn't want to come out! Ashamed as he was..."

The teen wondered if he could strangle the man with his belt. Or his hands. Choke down that man's windpipe to make sure nothing like this ever came out again. He didn't care at the moment if that would most undoubtedly frame him as Kira. At the moment it seemed worth it…

" -It came to point the chief was banging on the door, having given up talking softly and..."

Matsuda had the brilliant idea to retell stories from the teen's youth. Embarrassing stories. Which he had most likely heard from his father at late stakeouts, and sometimes seen himself. The teen was balling his fist and coming very close to the unsuspecting cop. A punch, maybe yanking out the other's voice box...

There was a suddenly a flash of blue that got his attention.

"Sadness? What are you doing here?"

At the statement the police officer and other personalities turned to see what was going on. And indeed, the airy personality had just walked out from behind one of the many curves of the road.

The personality looked up with his far away gaze before focusing on the people in font of him. "Hmm? I'm sorry, I missed what you said. May you please repeat the question?"

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you to be in Aizawa's group? Oh no! Did something happen! AHHH!" Matsuda then began to panic. Raito rolled his eyes.

"Happen? No, no. Nothing happened at all…" Sadness's eyes drifted to look off to the distance. He paused. "Well, actually, I did come out here for a reason." Another pause. The personality seemed to be deep in thought. "Ah, yes, I was sent back to inform the other groups that we have found the missing personalities."

"Really!" Raito and Matsuda exclaimed at the same time, but for very different reasons. Matsuda because, well, it was Matsuda. Hot coffee in the morning exited him. Raito, because that meant that not only was the search over but that this nightmare of a group would be over and they would be one step closer to getting out of here.

"Oh yes. Quite surprising really. Mogi-san told me it would be best if I went out to inform the others. Lucky I came upon you, was it not?" Sadness said with a small humm, gliding over the ground lost in life. "Unfortunately they seem scared of making a move, worried they would scare them off again. So they sent me to look for the rest so as to not take any chances."

"Well then, take us there!" Happiness said with a great smile.

Sadness blinked at them. "Should I?"

"… Uh, yeah? Isn't that the whole reason why you came back…?" Matsuda asked slowly.

Sadness looked upwards. "Uhmm, I guess. But doesn't that mean I shall be doing two trips instead of one?"

"We will resolve this ourselves, then the trip will be over. Come on, lead the way." Raito hustled, eager to get a move on.

The personality lifted an eyebrow at being pushed in such an out of character way, but said nothing and did as he was told, gliding off in front. It was actually rather close to the area they were in before. It didn't take that long to reach where the others were. Soon Aizawa and his group became visible, standing in front of a building.

They looked surprised to see them. "Well, that was fast."

"Aren't we missing a few people?" Mogi asked, inclining his head.

"Oh, I met them on the way. They insisted I show them here and they would resolve the problem on their own. Without the need to ask help of the rest of the party…" Sadness said idly as he glided by to stand at the edge of the group and gaze off into the distance.

Aizawa rolled his eyes. "Fine then. Any ideas? We are trying not to have a repeat of the last disaster."

"If I recall correctly, Shuichi, _you _were in the center of that disaster," Mogi commented off-hand.

Aizawa coughed, bringing his hand in front of his mouth, trying to hide the pink tint on his cheeks. "Yes, well, we certainly don't need another one of those now do we? So, suggestions?"

Raito shook his head. Did he have to do everything around here? "We should use the divide and conquer tactic. Paranoia is the obviously the driving force of the relationship. He will react at the slightest sight of danger to his charge. What we do is lure him out and convince Fear we mean no harm. He will be able to convince Paranoia. However, we should be more careful of our methods if this works…" Raito gave a pointed look at Aizawa, who coughed again.

Matsuda raised his hand, as if he was asking a teacher a question. "Okay, but how do we get them out, and who do we send in?"

"We make shuffling sounds and hope Paranoia comes out to investigate. He will leave Fear behind so he doesn't get hurt. We hold him down and who's free, goes in," Raito said dully, annoyed he had to explain simple details to supposedly intelligent police officers.

"I think Raito-san should go try to bring the other out," Mogi said out of the blue.

The other task force members looked at him incredulously. Including Raito. "Are you mad man? After the little show they put on? What gives you even the slightest idea that he should be the one barging in through that door and try to drag out a man who is overly terrified of him?" Raito had to agree with Aizawa. The wide-shouldered man did seem to have a few screws lose if he was suggesting such a thing after what had happened.

Mogi shrugged a large shoulder. "He has the most diplomacy and quickest wit. Aizawa has a short temper and has already scared him off once. I don't particularly feel too confident sending in one of the other personalities. I lack the necessary persuasive skill and I'm certainly not sending Matsuda in…"

"Hey!"

"No offense."

"Eh, you're probably right not to do it anyway…."

Aizawa interrupted. "Okay, fine. Raito goes in but I still think that is a bad idea to let him go alone."

"That's why I'm coming with him," Mogi said. He then gave the teen a knowing look, which Raito reflected by lifting an eyebrow.

"Fine. Great. We are all settled. Let's do this and do this soon."

"Gee, you sure are in a hurry Aizawa. What's the matter?" ever-curious Matsuda asked.

"Well, firstly there is the fact that I have no idea how long we have been in this nut house, and my wife will kill me for not phoning her. But more importantly Yumi is turning six, in what I hope is still next week. And I would much rather have a gun my mouth then miss my little girl's birthday."

Matsuda gave a high-pitched squeal that had all people within hearing range covering their ears. "ARE YOU SERIOUS? Why didn't you tell us? I totally forgot! Oh! I so have to get her a birthday present! And I have the perfect gift too! My uncle has this toy store up north of Tokyo and they have this amazing bunny-" Matsuda then proceeded to jabber on about how exited he was and how wonderful it was. He went on and on about his gift and thought of even better ones as he went. In short, he sounded like a middle-aged mother with her friends at afternoon tea.

"You know, as much as this personal shit is interesting and all, I quite frankly,don't want any of you people in here as much as you don't want to be here. But we've been over that haven't we? So if we could cut this useless conversation in half and get a move on that would be just dandy." Anger stepped in, pushing Matsuda to the side.

With that less-than-gentle push from the red-eyed personality, they initiated the plan. Mostly they just hit the walls of the building and stomped about. It was rather embarrassing.

There was sound of talking from inside the building before light footfalls were heard. When the door opened the group all lunged on top of Paranoia.

"What the hell? Get off! What is the meaning of this?" As Paranoia continued to straggle Raito rushed into the building, having a hard time detaching himself from the struggling pile of people

As soon as he was inside Mogi came in, stumbling slightly. Both of them then made their way to the back of the room, which was strangely dark.

"Paranoia? Is that you? What was that noise outside? Is every-" Fear stopped coming forth and cut himself off when he noticed who was waiting for him.

He backed off so fast he fell over.

"What do you want?" The personality curled inwards but did his best to keep his doe-eyes on both of them.

Raito lifted his hands up in a sign of peace. "We just want to talk."

Fear pressed himself closer to the wall. "Yes. Kira will try to ease me into a sense of security and trust. Then he will attack me to find my weakness. Isn't that right? Kira-kun."

Raito bristled. "Why I never!"

Fear stood up abruptly "I may be skittish, jumpy and afraid of my own shadow. But I sir, am no fool!" Fear had such a commanding tone and strong stance he almost seemed brave. That is, until he realized the position he was in and to whom he was speaking. He moved swiftly to the other side of the room, crouching again.

"I know I'm the weakest link. I'll- I'll crack under the slightest pressure. Normally that is fine. The others keep me secure, keep me calm and confident." He stopped, looking at Raito. "But now the threat is directly in front of me. Victory on a silver platter. It is every sadistic wet dream. I can't go with you. I can't do that to the others; to myself. I will not be the one sentencing us to our death. God knows we have enough trouble with Love…" Fear covered his head, trying to pretend he wasn't there.

Raito looked at a loss. "You can't be sure that I will do any such thing."

Fear's watery eyes narrowed. "Once again, do not insult my intelligence. You may put up your endearing act. Swipe people off their feet with compliments and empty gestures but beneath you are cold metal, Yagami-san. People to you are just pawns - stepping-stones to reach your goals. And I'm the perfect opportunity window."

Raito stiffened with every word, hands clenching. At the end he wanted to throw a fit. Deny, deny, deny until his throat hurt. But nothing came out. For in the end, Fear was right, and he knew it. Did he love his family? Yes. Would he sacrifice them in if there were no other option, to reach what he wanted? Yes.

And the realization made him sick.

When did this happen? When did getting what he wanted become more important than his family? He was ambitious, but never did it go this far… what was the turning point in his life where he sacrificed _people, _not just peoplebut_ people _who loved and supported him though so much in his life?

Maybe being a mass murderer isn't such a far call then? If he could trample over his family, throw them under the metaphorical bus, people he didn't even know would be like stepping on ants.

Raito shook his head viciously. The constant accusations were starting to get to him. But he would not waver. Just like he would not waver in his belief that even though Kira was evil, what he did was for the good of humanity. He wasn't Kira, and that was that. He just needed to get his priorities straight. His family was above all, and no amount of personal gain would change that.

Now he just had to repeat that constantly in his head until it went through his thick skull.

"I think it is more than that. I think you actually are afraid of Raito, the man. Not just Raito, the suspect." Both the teen and personality snapped their heads to stare at large policeman.

"But of course I am afraid of him! I am chained to a murderer! Death is knocking at my damn door!" Even though his back straightened, Fear still kept himself in his crouch.

"No. I think it runs deeper then that."

"How can it run deeper than the cold fear of death!"

Raito however had both eyebrows far up his forehead, giving Mogi an astonished look. Was the man insinuating that L had a fear of… commitment?

No.

This was Mogi. Just a friend of his father. The man couldn't be able to read that deep.

Right?

Mogi turned to him, lifting an eyebrow of his own. And Raito suddenly felt like maybe he might be underestimating the people he worked with.

Mogi faced Fear. "I can understand your hesitation. However, I will make you a deal. You and Paranoia may stay as far away from the group as you deem necessary, as long as you stand within sight. We will not force you to do anything you do not want to, as long as we can come to an agreement. If we do this right, then the task force, myself and Raito will be out of here soon."

Fear eyed him suspiciously. He turned to Raito, then back to Mogi again. "…I might take that offer into consideration. Nevertheless, I would like to have a word with Paranoia before taking up such an offer."

"Naturally." Fear eyed him up and down again as if expecting him to break down and confess his real intentions. Mogi just crossed his arms and waited patiently. Fear then scampered off, apparently not finding anything he should be concerned about.

Mogi soon followed, but stopped when Raito didn't follow after. "Something wrong, Raito-san?"

The teen was giving him a blank look. Then, "you should talk more."

Mogi just laughed.

* * *

Convincing Paranoia was easy after that. Fear didn't look too convinced when he pulled the other aside to have a private conversation outside of hearing distance. There was a lot of hand gesturing, side-glances and whispering. In the end, Paranoia pulled the other into a hug and muttered some more. They came over and both agreed, not bothering to hide just how hesitant and uncomfortable they were. Both immediately stepped to the back of the group, but always stayed within sight.

At the moment they were all making their way to the checkpoint his father instructed. This time it was a more pleasant trip, for Raito that is. Apparently Anger and Aizawa were doing the courtesy of pissing each other off - bickering between each other and demanding the group be silent. Which suited Raito just fine. He didn't know how many stories Matsuda had heard from his father but knew someone was going to get hurt if any more came out to the open.

When they did manage to get to the Kira building his father's group came into sight. Raito could hardly contain the rather evil little giggle that threatened to bubble to the surface. From the looks of it, his father didn't have an enjoyable stay either.

He was standing very still, shoulders square and hands clenching and unclenching. He looked like he was using all his willpower not to rip Courage into tiny tiny shreds with his bare hands. Courage didn't seem to know or care. He was bouncing about, doing cartwheels and just having the time of his life. He would sometimes flip over his father's shoulder. Raito had to hand it to him, the man had some strong will. Suddenly his own group seemed very much nicer.

Love was trying to console him, inching his hand to his father's shoulder. But every time he came close the man would give him the evil eye. The man looked angrier at the blind personality than with the one using him as an obstacle course.

That couldn't be good.

Logic and Reason were standing happily to the side (well, not _happily, _but you get the idea.) very much just left all to their own, even looking rather amused by the whole thing.

Kind of.

When his father finally saw them coming he could not have looked more relieved. "You came back! And it looks like we lucked out on our first try."

"Wonderful," Reason (or Logic, whoever) commented dully. "Now we can initiate our such for those who are missing, and which we did not lose on our own account"

Aizawa grumbled.

"Yay! Now we can go down to Memory Lane!" Courage bounced on the balls of his feet and twirled about.

"Why do you insist we go there?"

"… I'm bored."

"…You're board? You are putting our lives in danger because you think it will be FUN!" the twins said together, astonished.

"You know, if you put it that way… It sounds bad…" The twins just gave him a we-are-about-to-give-you-a-lecture look. "Look, you two are the smarts and all. The whole 'cool and collected' thing. And that's nice. But don't you think that sometimes you just go through so much drama when none of that is needed?"

Happiness grabbed Courage by the shoulders and steered him away. "Let us just censor all we deem necessary. Like that, we can visit a point we haven't looked into yet and keep safe. Everyone wins! YAY!"

The twins seem to give it some thought, then grunted and nodded.

Raito was rather surprised how easily that went over. He was expecting fireworks. But it all seemed fine. For some reason it just didn't boil well with him. Oh, the teen just knew that in the end something baaaad was going to happen.

More fun.

They began walking again. Since using the 'desired' entrance was out of the question because of Fear, the personalities decided they should take the closest in-city entrance.

Unfortunately, that just happened to be behind the Hall.

Which meant lots more walking.

Raito tried to contain his joy.

Luckily they took another route that dogged the Plaza completely, landing them at one of the tips of the semi-circle building. From there they made their way behind it. Because of its shape the path seemed endless. And that was not only to Raito but to the task force as well. Eventually (after a handful of annoying moaning from Matsuda) they reached the entrance the personalities spoke about.

It was simple yet odd-looking. It stood a few meters away from the curved wall. It was a half-dome shape, the back facing the Hall. The straight side had a simple door with Greek-style pillars on either side. On top of both pillars were identical gargoyles that were leaning over the edge. Their eyes were red which Raito thought strange since no other statue had this splash of color.

Happiness in the front of the group opened the door. Inside it was completely dark, with only the light from outside to reveal steps that led downwards. Like a basement. Only at the very end instead of just being more darkness there was a small light.

"Uh, is it a good idea to go down such a...Gloomy star case? It looked dangerous," Matsuda said as he peered inside.

"Don't be such a cry-baby!" Courage grabbed the man by the wrist and dragged him down, soon being swallowed by darkness.

The rest soon joined. Raito kept his hands pasted to the walls. He went slowly so he wouldn't fall. Which in retrospect was a fine idea because before reaching the bottom there was a yelp and thumping, which was to be found out later Matsuda falling down the rest of the stairs, dragging down with him Courage, Happiness, Love, and one of the twins, who looked beyond infuriated.

At the bottom the light was bright. Which was explainable, considering that at Memory Lane were built multiple inter-connecting corridors with nothing but monitors covering wall and ceiling. There was hardly any space left between monitors.

The corridor itself was only wide enough to for five grown men to stand side by side. The ceiling was low but had enough space for them to stretch their arms up that the tips of their fingers just barely scraped the top.

All the monitors were the only illumination in the corridor. Each one had a memory on it. Raito felt like a chameleon trying to look at them all at once. It was thrilling. His throat felt dry. This had to be the ultimate experience of bonding. This was not hearing a story from another person. This was living it from their point of view. It was more than Raito could ever hope for.

The confined space filled with personalities and the team, involving quite a bit of shoving. Most of the personalities pushed forward and organized themselves near Logic and Reason. With a slight incline of the head the personalities divided themselves. They all put both of their hands over the monitor-covered screens. They closed their multiple-colored eyes. Their bodies then began to glow, the light then moved and concentrated on their hands.

"Okay. What's happening now?" Matsuda asked one of the only two Personalities who wasn't participating.

"I thought it was obvious. This is the censuring process. Mostly they will bleach out real names. There is not much they can do. It is too much of a job and you really can't fiddle much with memories. You just can't. But they are doing it for you. They can't turn any of them off, so they will probably be moving the more important ones out of reach," Courage answered idly, arms crossed over his chest.

"But why aren't you and Sadness helping them?" Matsuda asked.

"Didn't feel like it." He grinned. "Nah, the job's really tiring. But in reality it doesn't need all that much manpower. Even though we have no real form it is 'emotionally straining' if you know what I mean." He laughed to himself.

It didn't take long after that. When the other personalities did remove themselves what Courage commented on became apparent. The personalities were so pale they looked translucent. They actually had a see-through appearance.

"You - you most likely will become distracted soon so - so we might as well move as quickly as possible." Logic (probably Logic) tried keeping an even tone but it became obvious he was as badly affected as the others.

It was true, however. As soon as they began to move, something along the line caught the attentions of each and every one of the task force members, whether it was by their own curiosity or because they got tired of waiting for the others.

Raito himself was drooling over every image, until one image in particular drew him near. When he came close to the monitor it was like he had stepped into a bubble. All sound outside the bubble was blocked and only the sound of the memory was heard.

On the screen was L. Child L. Child L was not all that different from Child-ness, only instead of honey- orange eyes, the deep brown that could be considered black, stared back. L's piercing gaze. Child L was looking in a full-length mirror. That was how Raito could see him since all the shots were from L's point of view. He looked to be around seven in age. He was wearing so many layers of clothing he must have been two times his actual size. He looked like a giant marshmallow. He was adjusting a wooly hat with mitten-covered hands.

"_Watari! Are you done yet! We will miss the snow! Come on now! It will melt if you take any longer!" L cried, not taking his eyes away from the mirror. He had to pull down his scarf so his voice could be heard. He was speaking in English with a slight British accent._

"_One moment, my boy! I am still looking for an extra scarf for you! I will not risk you getting hypothermia!" came a faint reply from the other room._

"_Hypothermia! Watari, if you dress me in any more clothes I run the risk of having a heat stroke! Not hypothermia! Do I have to repeat myself? Very well; the snowwwwww! It will be spring if you are not done sooooooooooon."_

"_Don't be so dramatic my boy! I just wish to keep you healthy and happy! Now where is that scarf…"_

"_I am in perfect health! I would be running laps if I wasn't afraid of falling down and being incapable of getting up again because of the sheer amount of layers! I'll be like a turtle on its back!"_

_There was a chuckling sound from the other room._

"_As for my happiness? Well, I think you are quite aware of what will make me immensely happy at the moment…"_

_There were footfalls and the view turned. It was a much younger Watari, standing in front of a European-styled corridor. The man actually had dark brown hair on his head and a moustache. He was wearing a heavy winter coat and gloves. In his hands rested a navy scarf._

_The man kneeled and tried to put the scarf on the boy. A small hand stopped him. "Watari, I am fine with the amount of clothing I have on. You on the other hand should be using this scarf." The older gentleman chuckled but let L's tiny hands tie the scarf sloppily around his neck._

_When finished the screen moved up and down. Little L seemed to be jumping. "The snow the snow the snowwwwwww! We are all done! Can we gooooo now?" the little boy whined._

_Watari smiled. The screen stopped moving._

"_Watari… why are you smiling like that?"_

_The man shook his head. "I am just glad to see you this way, L."_

"…_What way?"_

"_Acting your age."_

"…_I'm sorry, but I don't think I follow..."_

_The man's smile became sad. "It is so rare that I see you act like a child. You have seen too much for your age. You set such high goals for yourself and follow them with such diligence… It is easy to forget how young you really are."_

_Pause._

"_Watari?"_

"_Yes, L?"_

"_The snooooow!"_

_Watari smiled wildly, mustache curling at the ends. He suddenly leaned over and embraced the boy. _

"_Why are you hugging me?"_

"_Because, L, you are just something special."_

Raito stepped back. It was like pulling his head out of a bowl of water. Stepping away from the bubble made all the sound of the memory disappear. After seeing that memory Raito felt like hot lava was spilling down his back. He wasn't quite sure why.

One thing was true, though: L was seriously something special. Raito needed to see more. He craved it. This was gold. All the monitors had random images on them, not at all in chronological order. He went along the wall until something else gripped his attention.

Many of the images consisted of cases. Face-to-computer interaction with great politicians of other countries. Sometimes Raito would poke his head in and listen to what was being said. Though for most part the debates were quite interesting, they didn't hold his attention long. Raito could hear this kind of stuff if he wanted; could even have a debate with the men himself. Though it was sometimes funny to see L manipulate and argue with people like the vice president of France, it still didn't satisfy his hunger.

Most of the time arguments like this were done in the language of the person with whom he was arguing. Paranoia wasn't lying; the man did know more than his fair share of languages. The teen was fluent in three languages: Japanese, English and French. He had learned some Spanish and a small amount of Italian, so he could understand a lot of what was going on around him, but there was quite a bit he didn't understand.

Raito sometimes had trouble distinguishing L's voice from the others since everything was in L's point of view and his voice came out the way he heard it, not like Raito did. It was astonishingly different.

Something soon got his attention, however. He wasn't sure why. This image was of crisp pages of a book written in English. Raito's reading of the English language was rusty; he hadn't used it since school. However, it didn't mater in the end, because as soon as he stepped into the bubble to try and read what was written, there was a thud and one side of the screen went black. L was wincing, one eye closed. A hand came up to rub along his face.

_The view was moved from the book over the top. It was a playground, with standard playground toys and children. The trees were bare and the floor full of orange, yellow and red. Not far away there were five boys, all with a pile of rocks in their arms._

"_Ah! Right on the head! Did you see that! Right on the head!" One of the boys laughed. He was rather skinny and was wearing winter clothes like his friends._

"_It was a nice shot Will, but I can do soooo much better! You'll see! I'll get the little freak right between the eyes!" a much bigger boy with a strong accent challenged._

_More rocks were thrown. The book came back into view, probably to act like a shield. There was a lot more thumping. Most of it sounded like it hit the hard cover of the book but there were some more sounds of discomfort from L._

"_Oh! Did you see that! Scratched him! He's bleeding a little!"_

"_You're right! Serves him right! Sittin' there with a book. Acting like he can read! Bloody stuck up if you ask me! What is he? Four?"_

"_He can't even talk! Been here almost a year and not word! He's either retarded or a snob."_

_The book didn't move. More thumping sounds. More rocks._

"_Not one kid of the orphanage goes near him. The little creep. I heard if you stare into his eyes you turn into stone… or was it go insane? Ah, doesn't matter."_

"_Really? Well maybe we should carve them out when he sleeps to prevent it!"_

"_Didn't ya hear? The thing doesn't sleep! My mate tried playing a prank on him one night, almost wet himself. He swears the thing's eyes glowed in the dark. Wouldn't put it past him to have wearied eyes, too."_

"_Oi, if he's so bloody strange, then we oughta go at him with more then rocks, ne? Maybe we can pound some normality inta him?"_

_The screen shot up over the edge of the book. The five boys had let go of their rocks and were charging forward. The screen jerked about - L was trying to escape. The ground was suddenly up close. Small hands, smaller than the ones before, with many scrapes and bruises broke the fall. The screen swiveled around to see that one of the boys, one of the much bigger boys, had a thin ankle wrapped in his large chunky fingers._

"_The little freak is trying to escape us," the boy jeered to his friends. He turned to L. "What, kid? Afraid of a little human contact, eh?" The boy leaned in close. A tiny fist hit his face. The boy stepped back, startled but not enough to let go of the leg._

"_Gee Ed, he got you good!" the thin one laughed._

"_Shut up Leo! Now you made me mad you little prick! Fuck, he's actually stronger than he looks…"_

"_You're just a wimp, Ed. The kid is, like, four or something."_

"_I told you to shut up Leo!"_

_The boy's fist, Ed's fist, came down. The screen moved again from the sick look of enjoyment on the other boys' faces to jean-covered knees. L was doubling over. There was even a small grunt of pain._

"_Hey, he didn't let go of the book. What? Got some stupid attachment to something you can't even use?" Dirty hands reached for the book that could be seen at the edge of the screen. They tried taking it away but both of L's tiny hands unclenched from around his stomach and snatched it back._

_After that what was on screen became too blurry to make out. Soon the screen went black but sounds were still clear. Most if it was grunting, either from L or the other boys, it was hard to tell. There was also a lot of laughing._

"_The stupid prick is still trying to protect the book! He must really have air between his ears!"_

"_We just oughta hit him harder! He'll let go soon."_

"_What is the meaning of this!" A new, older, feminine voice was heard. The sound of flesh hitting flesh stopped and shifting was heard. Most of it was drowned out by the sound of heavy breathing, interrupted by small gaps._

"_It's not what it looks like!"_

"_I do not wish to hear your attempts to excuse yourselves. Go to the headmaster's office at once! I will deal with you later if necessary." There was silence. "NOW!"_

_More shifting of clothes. A line of light was seen and then the whole screen lit up. A woman approached; neatly dressed with elegant glasses perched on her head. Raito's eyes widened when he noticed the woman was the one he'd seen at the Plaza a long time ago. If not the same, then almost identical. She was the golden statue with the scrawl on her face._

"_They made a mess of you didn't they?" She shook her head. "Why does this just happen when I'm in the worst of moods?" she asked more to herself than to L._

_She bent over and snatched L's wrist. The hand and arm now looked like they went through the blender, ruffled up with multiple spots of blood. They crossed the playground, following into the building. Throughout the whole walk the screen kept moving around. Many children and young teens were everywhere, all of them coming out to see the commotion. Mostly the screen stopped on one until they got out of sight. L was holding their gazes. All the children, teens and even a few adults, looked away. Most of them looked more than a little unconvertible._

_Finally the woman stopped, pushed a door open and sat L down. The room was an infirmary. She went shuffling through drawers, muttering to herself._

"_You know, mister - you could avoid these kind of situations if you actually made friends." Her speech had been interrupted in the middle of saying L's name. This had to be the censorship the personalities were talking about._

_The woman looked over her shoulder. It was like she was staring directly at Raito. She turned. "It doesn't help that you don't talk. I have seen your medical reports, you know. I know you're not mute." She came over with a metal tray, medical supplies on it._

_She kneeled with a cotton ball in her hand. She brought it close to the screen. This close up you could see the sheer amount of make-up trying to cover up the women's real age. One side of the screen went black again. There was a small hiss._

"_Stings, doesn't it?" L didn't answer. She sighed. "You know, children your age would be bawling their eyes out right now. Crying and hauling." Pause. New cotton ball. "I hardly see you cry. In fact, I think I only saw you do it once. And that was when you first got here. It was so quiet, too. No wonder you scare the living daylights out of everyone around you, boy. You're five yet you act like you're an adult."_

_She stopped again, this time just looking at L – at Raito. She stared for so long Raito thought the boy had turned her into stone. It was like she was searching for something._

"_They say you're retarded," she said rather bluntly; dully; over the sound of clothes rustling. A flash of white passed the screen. She had taken L's shirt off. She seemed to flinch when she looked at him again._

"_They really did a number on you, didn't they? Look at this… I think I'll have a private talk with them later." Her face darkened. "And children are supposed to be pure. Ha!" She continued working but the screen moved to a point over her head._

"_I don't think you have mental problems at all." The screen moved down. Raito caught a glimpse of the slim child's torso and flinched himself. What was not being wrapped in bandages had flakes of blood and was colored blue and purple._

"…_But sometimes I wonder…." She snorted. "I'll admit that in the beginning I was just like the others." L hissed again. "Sorry. Do you know how uncomfortable you make people feel?" She looked at him once again._

_Staring again. This time she looked fascinated. She smiled. " Of course you do, don't you? I think you like it. I think it amuses you. I use to be just like my colleagues at first. You have got all of them fooled, don't you? You keep them at a distance with a disguise of ignorance, when in reality, I think it is quite the contrary."_

_She picked up a chair and moved it in front of L, apparently done with his treatment. She turned and went through a bag Raito didn't remember being there, before she brought out a simple notebook, brown in color. Tiny hands tried to snatch it away. She held it over her head._

"_I found this in the library. I would say you had forgotten it there but I know better. How many that time? Ah, it doesn't mater. You never give us names. We catch them in the act. Why is that?"_

_No answer._

"_It's not important at the moment." She waved him off and opened the notebook. L made a noise of protest. "It's all right. I didn't read all of it. I found it a few days ago. Had no idea whose it was. Mostly it's just dictionary notations; definitions of words. For a while I thought it was from an older child. The handwriting could only be that of a child. I tried asking around some of the classes but wouldn't you know? No one recognized it." She waved the open book._

"_The analogies in here are actually rather impressive. Not if you are in fourth grade, but for someone in _kindergarten, _it is fantastic." She flipped through some more pages. "They really don't think you are capable of reading – or even understand half of what they say to you, you know. But from what I gathered from this book you must have quite the vocabulary. Where did you find a book with German? I'm quite sure we don't have any in the library…"_

_L's hand tried to swipe the notebook out of the woman's hands, but she pulled it back. She then closed it and flipped it, presenting it to him. The screen moved to her face then the book. Both tiny hands swooped it up and pressed it closely to his chest._

"_Do you know how I figured out it was yours?" The screen focused on her face again. "Yesterday, when I was on library duty, I saw you with multiple dictionaries, as well as a copy of Moby Dick and Sherlock Homes. It came to me then. I didn't believe it at first but when you pulled out loose papers to write on, it just seemed obvious. I really don't see how the other teachers or caretakers were never bothered with what you were doing. Then again you do know how to keep them away…" She tilted her head back. "I was never curious, either. But after that I saw things a little differently. Like, even though you never participate in class, you're always scribbling in your book. I didn't notice that before. Or that when you're not reading, it looks like you're reading people." She giggled._

"_Isabella_ _always tells me you give her the willies, you know. She thinks you know some of her deeeeep secrets, or some other rubbish like that. Maybe you do... You don't sleep enough, you know."_

_She stopped again, staring at him like she expected something. When nothing happened, her shoulders slumped. She picked up the metal tray. "Maybe I'm over-thinking things. Maybe I just sat here and wasted my breath on a strange little boy who likes to copy things out of the dictionary and shuffled through older children's notes. And who just likes to stare…" She had her back to him, now putting things away._

_Only the sounds of some bottles being put away resonated. Then…_

"_Thank you." The voice was raspy, but young and thin. The woman jumped and there was a clatter of metal hitting wooden floor. She whipped her head around, eyes so big Raito was surprised her make-up wasn't cracking and chipping around her eyes._

"_Y-you… did you…?"_

_The screen focused on bony knees. "You are the first person who has attem- attempted to speak to me. Not only did you speak to me like a person, but as someone who was fully aw-aware of what is happening around him." Some words were broken up. He must have had trouble with the pronunciation and with the lack of use of his voice. The screen focused on the woman again. She looked like she was having a hard time breathing. "Not even my parents thought I was this lu- lucid. Thank you."_

_The screen moved rapidly to the side where his hand snatched the book he had with him earlier. Then, with book and notebook in hand the scene began to change. First the door of the infirmary opened, then it switched to blurry corridors with more whispering. Finally L arrived at another room that had to be a third the size of Raito's own room with barely enough space to open the door._

Raito pulled himself back from the bubble again. He simply sat back. He was trying to process all that he had just seen. There was so much he could get from what he'd just seen. But all he could think about was that group of kids. He could feel the heat rising in his body at the thought.

They were but mere children. Couldn't have been much older than L himself - probably seven. Yet they threw _rocks_ and then _fists._ They had no mercy and had been fully conscious of what they did. They took pleasure in seeing another person suffer because he didn't fit into their expectations.

The world was rotten.

It explained so much, yet raised more questions than it answered. An orphan, resented by his peers. The world was cruel to L yet he didn't hate it. He didn't turn into a psychopathic murderer, using his intelligence for crime. There had to be a reason.

Watari came to mind. In spite of this, Raito felt like there was more than just the kind gentlemen to be accounted for the way L turned out…

The teen looked up and down the corridor with the millions of images flashing colorfully.

Well, he might not find the answers he was looking for but he surely was going to try.


	13. Neon Green: Part B

… Errr, I will start of with asking for forgiveness for another long wait. -_-'

Yes, I know, my cruelty has no limits. But for the ones who are interested I the reason for my absence I will summaries as best as I can since I know you probably want the chapter more then anything.

Simply, got visa, moved out of brazil, got into university, went to a wedding, got a new computer and then started said university… that is about it.

Well now that that is done! THANK YOU FOR THE REVEIWS! I CAN'T BILIVE HOW MUCH YOU LOVE MEEEE! And for that love! I give you!...*drum roll* MY BIGGEST CHAPTER YET. It is a monster. Do not expect it all the time. He is special. I do not think (or at lest I hope) I will be able to out do him…

**Important**: this story is coming to a close soon. NOT very soon, don't worry, but in a few chapters. So I what to ask. Do you want a story just for L's memories? It will be longer and have more description and the main character will be L, so we will know more about him. Give me your opinion!

REVIEW MY PRETTIES!

* * *

Neon Green: Part B

_What you lived through in the past is what makes you who you are today._

It was amazing really. Raito had seen his fair share of movies that had things like this. _Flashback_, and such. This only gave the environment a more eerie and surreal feel to it. Raito doubted he would ever be able to be sure of another thing in his life again. Because when things that you only see in movies happen in real life…well, what can you call reality anymore?

Maybe next they'll have an alien invasion. Or perhaps time travel.

And perhaps L will realize that smothering his emotions is bad for his health and be open and sensitive! And both of them will love each other and skip off to Candy Land to live in a house made of sweets! And Kira will simply not have existed!

….

Aliens and time travel don't sound as unlikely anymore.

He sighed. It didn't help that he was feeling the dark gray eyes of his current life's misfortune. It was discomforting, to say the least. Every time he went close to a memory he would feel their eyes sharpen on the back of his head.

But that did not stop him in the least. Oh, no. Nothing would at this point. But Raito knew that his freedom perched on a thin line that was very easily trespassed. He had the suspicion that the only reason he wasn't bound and gagged at this very moment was that the two rays of sunshine were kept occupied by the large number of emotions _and_ the taskforce, that by chance (or maybe not quite) always seemed to demand attention whenever Raito moved to another memory bubble.

Maybe he wasn't as damned as he liked to dramatize himself to be.

He wasn't sure how much longer that would last. He was sure he was going to be pulled out or simply completely barricaded from most, if not all, of the memories. So he was making the most of it.

Never in his life did he wish to be a horrible mutation of a multi-eyed chameleon. (Because people don't normally wish that) But so much to see within such a small window of opportunity made deformation almost appealing.

Well, not really.

Something caught his eye soon enough. Most likely because it was the inside of a car and at the bottom of the screen was a glimpse of what was very certainly something L would never wear.

Which was a broad statement in itself, since all the teen ever saw the man wear were jeans and a shirt. With his interest piqued Raito gravitated towards the screen and stepped into its sound bubble.

"_L, are you sure this is a good plan? I'm not-"_

"_Watari, I understand your perturbation but I can assure you I will be perfectly fine. We took all necessary precautions and I will keep you posted throughout it. There is nothing to be worried about."_

"_L, you know how I feel about you recruiting criminals."_

"_I do, but he has skill we just cannot overlook. Skill that will be very valuable to the team. Wedy has turned out to be such an incredible employee. I think Aiber will as well."_

"_Yes, she has turned out to be a very loyal employee. One of the best in my personal opinion, which is rather surprising. However, if you do remember, not all of your hirings have such a pleasing outcome. If I remember correctly, Jason-"_

"_Was a lack of judgment on my part. I will admit. But I must say-"_

"_No, L! No! He almost killed you!"_

"_Yet he didn't."_

_The old man gritted his teeth then sighed, bringing his aged hands to rub at his temples. "I just worry for your health. I almost lost you that time. I don't…"_

_Quiet._

"_I understand, but Aiber possesses skills I never learned, and don't particularly think I could. Or have any real desire to. He will be a valuable asset and infinitely useful. Moreover, he is a pacifist; preferring his sharp tongue and wit over violent actions."_

_The old man let out a heavy breath, closing his eyes. "Very well. I trust your judgment. Just promise me you will be careful. I also want to hear from you as often as possible. And if I feel like anything is out of control I am pulling you out! And I don't want to hear a word of protest! You understand, L? Because you do know how to rub people the wrong way, my boy…"_

"_Yes, yes, I understand. Now let's get this over with. I feel quite foolish in this attire, and wish to get out of it as quickly as humanly possible."_

_The screen moved downwards. What could be seen (and Raito had trouble believing L was actually wearing such a thing) was a tight black short-sleeved shirt with some band logo on it. Underneath were a white long-sleeved shirt and skinny jeans. And on his normally bare feet were overly large skating shoes._

_The screen moved back up. Watari was smiling, a rather evil smile if Raito said so himself. "Yes, you do look rather ridiculous. But if I recall correctly, your intention was to look rebellious? As well as irreconcilable? I must say you have achieved one of said goals. I would never expect to see you in anything of this nature. Ever." The man sniggered._

"_You may laugh when the deed is done and I am in my preferred outfit. If we are done here, I shall begin the plan." The view rotated and the door of the car opened. The scene moved from a road and random passers-by until it stopped in front of a very elegant, very expensive looking restaurant. L pushed in through the double doors._

_Immediately what had to be a waiter or receptionist stepped up. He had greased back hair, a well-pressed suit, and a rather long, large nose. The man looked down at L with said nose, obviously not thinking of him as anything more than the dirt on the sole of his shoe. "May I help you, _sir_?" the man asked with such fake politeness it was covering the twitching of his lip._

"_Yeah you can, old man. Table for two. Reserved under Dustoguvish." L's voice came out with an apathetic tone. The perfect, spoiled, uncaring and 'stick it to the man' teenager._

_The man lifted an eyebrow. "Dustoguvish you say sir?" He looked surprised, but mostly suspicious._

"_Yeah, you know? Big-shot CEO with tons of cash? Do I have to spell it out for ya?"_

"_I'm sorry; it's just that you don't look like said CEO, sir." The man looked like he was having a hard time not sneering out his words._

"_Of course I don't! Do I look like I'm some 60-year-old man? No. I'm his son, you senile old man." _

_The man's eye twitched. "I'll go check your reservation sir." He turned, hands fisted._

_When he left, L sighed. The screen moved around. The restaurant was of very high class. Soon the screen landed on a long mirror that took up almost half of the wall as decoration. Raito almost choked when he saw L's full appearance. The man's hair, usually wild and free, was tamed and flattened. It looked oily, probably dunked in hair gel to keep it so… straight. The bags underneath L's eyes were gone, hidden under what could only be half a pound of make up. And was that a piercing on his nose? And lip? They had to be clip-ons…_

_L sighed again. "I will never understand fashion…"_

_There was a sound of someone clearing their throat. The screen turned to face the same snobby waiter. "Your registration is confirmed sir. Please follow me." The waiter then led him into the bowels of the restaurant._

_Raito caught multiple people turning their heads as they went by. The screen never focused on them. Instead it kept rooming the room. It stopped when it caught sight of what only could be Aiber. He was far away, looking like he was chatting up a waiter, but it had to be Aiber._

"_We are here sir. If you don't mind me asking, when will Mr. Dustoguvish be arriving?"_

"_He is not coming."_

"_I-I'm sorry?"_

"_My dear father likes to arrange these meetings to try and have some 'father-son' time. It is all bullshit. He never shows up. It's just something he does to keep his conscious clean; to pretend he is being a good father. I get a free meal out of it, though."_

"_Well, I'm sorry to hear that, sir."_

"_No ya not. I know you just wanna get your greedy manicured hands on his money. Don't worry, I can dip into my father's account any time. And trust me, I love to milk that bastard of every penny at every damn opportunity I get." _

_A glitter appeared in the waiter's eye. His interest was piqued. He bowed and moved out, a greedy smile on his face. "Someone will come for your order soon sir," he said over his shoulder._

_L's hand came up and disappeared at the side of the screen. He lifted a glass with the other. "I'm in. I have established the location of the target and set the bait. On stand-by," L whispered, cup of water strategically placed. The rim could be seen on the bottom of the screen._

"_Roger," came the electronic reply. L was using an earpiece._

_At that moment, a smiling waitress walked over. "What would you like to drink sir?"_

"_Don't care. Anything sweet. And since you're here, for food I want one of everything on the dessert menu."_

_The waitress blinked. "I-I'm sorry sir, I don't think I understand. What will your main course be tonight?"_

"_What? Am I speaking in tongues here? Does this sound like Japanese to you? Because last time I checked, I was speaking plain English. I'll talk slowly then. To drink: a n y t h i n g - s w e e t, doesn't matter what. For food: o n e - o f - e a c h - o n - t h e - d e s s e r t menu. Got it now?_

"_Ah, of course... well… I'll be right back with your order then…sir." She left in a hurry._

_From then on, L just sat quietly. The corner of the screen always had Aiber in view. At one point the snobby waiter moved to talk to the con-man. He only inclined his head in L's direction and Aiber's eyes only swiped a quick glance at L. They parted soon after. _

_When the order came, the screen's focus was almost completely on the food. The women did indeed look like she'd brought the whole dessert menu. She carefully parked the dessert cart next to the table. L said nothing and ate. The screen sometimes moved to where the con man sat._

_By the time the third plate of sugary goodness was gone, Raito was beginning to get impatient. Luckily enough, that was exactly when Aiber appeared._

_He leaned on the table, smiling down at L (who, thankfully, was sitting normally for a change.) "Hello. Is this seat taken?" he asked in such a smooth sly tone it sent shivers down Raito's spine. _

_Not the good kind though. For some reason he thought he wasn't going to like what was going to happen next. He suddenly felt possessive of the detective._

_This Aiber was younger than the one he knew, hair shorter and face clear. Still incredibly handsome. He seemed thinner, too. Not as much muscle as the current Aiber. His suit fit perfectly within his environment, just making him more dashing._

"_Do whatever you like." Aiber lifted an eyebrow, obviously not expecting such a response. But his smile never left his face. He took it as an invitation and sat._

"_I'm Axel. You don't seem like the typical customer you see in a place like this."_

"_That's because I'm not."_

_Aiber didn't seem bothered when not getting a name. "Well, then why are you here? You obviously seem uncomfortable - if you don't mind me commenting."_

_A snort. "My father's lame attempt to try and connect with me. It would work better if he actually showed up. I don't remember the last time I saw him face to face."_

"_Ah, I'm sorry to hear of such a tragedy. I hope I did not upset you." The con man put in just the right amount of pity and consideration, and softened his eyes just right. A skilled con man._

"_Nah. It's been the same way every two weeks for the last three years. There's nothing to be sad about. Not like there was a relationship to save. He throws a lot of money at me and expects everything to be fine. Bastard. But money is pretty much unlimited. I like to just burn it on anything I can."_

"_Ah." The man's eyes were shining at the mention of money, hunger brightly apparent. "Well, I still think it's terrible that you have such a bad relationship with your father. I feel just awful I brought such a terrible subject up. I wish I could make you feel better."_

"_Are you hitting on me?" The question seemed out of the blue and Aiber was equally startled. _

"_I'm sorry, is that what this is coming across as? No, I was just-"_

_L cut off dully. "It's cool."_

"…_Excuse me?"_

"_It's cool. If you're hitting on me. I swing that way."_

_Aiber's face was blank for a moment before a smile ten times as bright and sly sliped over it. "Ah, as a matter of fact, I was 'hitting on you'." He leaned in closer, his Persona changing at once to fit his target's preference. The man was good. "You caught my eye out of the crowd. You're just so different from the others. I couldn't help but be intoxicated."_

"_Wanna make out?"_

_This time, Aiber looked like he really did have the mat pulled from under his feet. His hand slipped slightly on the table and he just gave L a very baffled look. Raito was doing it himself, almost choking on air again. He knew this was an act (it had to be) but still…_

_The con man pulled himself together rather quickly. His smile was back; this time it looked more like a smirk, his gaze taking on a lusty look. Raito felt that shiver again. He was having a hard time figuring out if the man was still acting or not. "Oh my, I did find myself a true little firecracker, didn't I?" He licked his lips. "Meet me in the bathroom in ten minutes."_

_He left._

_The moment he was out of sight and earshot L's hand moved to his ear piece again. "Target engaged. I have got him where I want. I'll be instigating the final part of the plan soon."_

"_Roger. Be careful."_

"_You worry too much."_

_L sat and finished as much of his food as he could. The screen soon began to move, pushing through the crowd to the back. There were three doors: ladies' room, men's room, and the kitchen._

_The minute L walked through the door Aiber's face was on him. There was a muffled 'mmmph' from L. The screen was blurring around the edges at how close the con man's face was. _

_Ratio's open mouth was soon replaced by fury and a scowl. He felt his body lock and the blood in his veins catch fire. He wanted to claw at the screen._

_Thankfully, L overcame his own surprise quite quickly and the screen was a blurr of movment once again. It ended with Aiber bent over the sink with both hands behind his back and L bringing out a pair of handcuffs._

_Strangely enough, that didn't actually make Raito feel the least bit better._

_There was a click of metal. Aiber was struggling. "Umm, kinky. I did pick myself quite the prize. Normally I'm on top, but I think I can make an exception for such a beautiful and feisty boy." Raito couldn't say if he was acting or if it the man actually felt that way. It didn't matter, but he felt like the next time he saw Aiber, the con man wouldn't be very happy to see him._

_The screen came forward so that L's lips were incredibly close to Aiber's ear. "I'm sorry Mr. Aiber. I think I might have misled you to get you to this point. This is not quite the situation you think it is," L said in his dull monotone, having dropped the act completely._

_The screen moved backwards so that Aiber's whole form could be seen: (it was a rather incriminating position) the man's entire body was stiff. His face had lost its lusty glow but that damn smile had been slipped back into place._

"_Oh, are we role plying now? I'm loving this even more!" The false cheeriness and calm was palpable._

"_No Mr.- , I think you still haven't quite understood your situation here. This is not a game. You may drop your persona. I have dropped mine."_

_The man cocked his neck into a painfull loking position to stare at L, eyes wide. Hysterical, act completely dropped. He began to thrash. "Where the fuck did you hear that name! Tell me! TELL ME!"_

"_Seems like I have finally gotten through to you."_

"_TELL ME!"_

_L thrust Aiber down. The man grunted and coughed, but still tried to struggle. "Calm down. I very well can't speak with a hysterical man."_

_There was suddenly a loud squeak. (One that reminded Raito very much of __Matsuda__)_ _The screen snapped to the door. A short man with glasses was standing at the entryway, eyes wide. Raito could only image what the man was thinking at seeing what Raito couldn't._

_The man's cheeks went from rosy to pink to fire-truck red. He began to sweat, looking to be caught between appalled and embarrassed._

_Before either the man or Aiber could utter a word L's voice cut in. "Excuse me, can you not see that my partner and I are tring to engage in homosexual intercourse at the moment?"_

_The man's face went from red to green. He looked a bit woozy. There was a sputtering sound from Aiber._

"_No? Well, we are. So if you would please leave so we can continue? Unless, of course, you would like to join us? If so, do close the door."_

_The man went from green to pale puce and looked about ready to faint. The door slammed shut so harshly it made the art on the walls shake. It was like the man was never there._

"_You idiot! You should have let me talk! Now he's going to call the staff on us!" The con man's face was a perfect blend of horror and outrage._

_L slammed him against the counter again, the top and bottom of the screen darkening. L's eyes were narrow. "I would appreciate if you did not insult my intelligence. I think you have forgotten in just what situation you are in. Moreover, the man was so embarrassed at what he just witnessed he will not be able to look his date/companion in the eye. Much less call the authorities."_

_Aiber was studying him, his breathing labored. "How do you know my name - my real name? I haven't heard it in years…"_

"_Ah, Mr. Aiber. I know quite a few more things about you. For example, the true reason you are a con man. Starting out to pay the bills from the hospital of your sick mother. Ending up with you seeing just how easy it was to get people to do what you want. Leading an easy life after so much hardship. Or the fact that you are not some seedy criminal; having one-fifth of your con money distributed to reliable charities."_

_Aiber seemed to bleach, breath catching. "What the hell do you want? Where did you hear this bullshit! None of it is real!"_

"_I think I told you, Mr. Aiber. I know many things. And I am here to offer you a proposal."_

"…_Proposal?"_

"_Yes. And if you promise me you will act civilly I will release you, so we may go over the terms."_

_The man's eyes closed. He evened out his breathing, then nodded. L let him straighten himself up. Then he unlocked the handcuffs. Aiber turned and rubbed his wrists. L pulled out a folded piece of paper and a pen from what seemed like thin air._

_Aiber unfolded it and looked it over. Both eyebrows scaled his forehead as his eyes moved down the page._

_He looked up. "Is this some kind of joke?"_

"_No. I can assure you it is all very real."_

"_Wait. Let me get this straight. You come in here, pretending to be some rich kid. Then, you get my informant to steer me here and corner me in the bathroom to propose to me that I work for __**L**__? The__** L**__? As in the rising detective: superstar, anonymous, mysterious, and ironically known world-wide?"_

"_Yes."_

_The man began to laugh. He doubled over and laughed, tears trickling out of his eyes. However, he soon stopped when he looked at L's face. "You're serious."_

"_Once again, yes."_

"_But I'm a criminal! Very powerful, angry people want me in prison. Even dead. Have you even read this thing? It says here that I can basically do what I want and have L back me up and protect me from the police and the government!"_

"_No, Mr. Aiber. What it is written there is that you will work for L. And as an employee, you have rights to do your job within your contract. In all of the jobs if you obtain money of your own accord you may keep it, as well as earn your normal salary. You will only be protected from the actions you do under the commands of L himself. Your profile will be cleaned and all charges dropped. That is, of course, only if you swear loyalty to L."_

_The man looked at him blankly. "So what you're saying is that I continue being a con man, just a con man with a job? Excuse me if that just doesn't sound quite right… and if I con money out of my targets it's mine as well as the money of my normal pay? And you actually expect me to accept this, congenially working for an anonymous man."_

"_Yes."_

"…_There has to be a catch. What happens if I refuse your offer?"_

"_There is no catch, Mr. Aiber. Only details to be discussed later. And if you refuse? Well, unfortunately… you will be arrested."_

"_WHAT? So I either accept to work under a man I have never met, this imaginary creature without a face, and do whatever he tells me to... Or I go to prison? What kind of offer is that?"_

"_A rather good one, if I do say so myself."_

_The screen moved to the sink. The tap was turned on. L whipped out all the gel from his hair. Now he looked more like himself, if not a much younger self, yet not as distinctive as he would look with the bags under his eyes. He was much more attractive with his fluffy hair. He plunked off his 'piercing'. When he was done the screen turned back to the con man - who had a thoughtful look on his face? His eyes scanned L's face. Raito didn't like the look that was crawling into the con man's eyes... _

"_I could just escape, you know…"_

"_Out of the question. I demonstrated that I have extensive knowledge on you and finding you would be simple, if not painfully effortless. By then, however, the offer would be off the table and you would simply go to prison."_

"_You drive a hard bargain. Nonetheless, I still don't understand what use the 'great' L would have with low ranking con man such as myself."_

"_You have very useful skills and an incredible potential that cannot be ignored. It would be a shame if it would go to waste in prison. It would be put into so much better use under the jurisdiction of L."_

_Aiber eyed him. He tapped pen against paper. Then turned, signing the contract on the sink. He handed it over to L, who scanned it. The screen focused on the paper. The signature was too pixilated to make out._

"_Excellent. I knew you would come to your senses. Very well then, we are done here. You will receive a cell phone in the mail exactly two weeks from now. We will call you. It was a __pleasure__ doing business with you, Mr. Aiber." He pocketed the contract._

_The screen turned to the door but suddenly snapped around. There was a thumping noise of a body hitting a wall and L was staring at Aiber again, who was too close for comfort - for L and Raito._

"_We're not done yet. Aren't there more maters to discuss about the contract? I have a few questions to ask…" The screen slowly moved from Aiber's face (that was a little more than a palm's length away from L's face) down the arm next to his head. Then it focused back on Aiber._

"_I can see you are determined to have some answers…."_

"_Will I meet L?"_

"_That depends, Mr. Aiber, on if you are approved. Things that shall be discussed two weeks from now…"_

"_Hmm, and paychecks…?"_

"_Deposited directly into your account."_

_He leaned in closer. L made a grunting noise. He sounded unhappy._

"_You know, I wasn't lying when I said I liked you. You're just so different. I bet there isn't anyone else like you out there."_

"_Quite true. And you are currently stepping over boundaries and invading my personal space. I would appreciate if you moved."_

"_What if I don't want to? Go out on a date with me." He leaned in more. Raito was gritting his teeth. There was a flash on the screen and Aiber was being pushed back by L. The detective's pointer finger was pushing against the middle of the other's forehead, forcing the man's head, and body, back. He shoved a little more and Aiber stumbled back._

"_No."_

_Aiber was rubbing at the red dot now in the middle of his forehead. "Why not?" He sounded more than a little frustrated and annoyed at being shot down._

"_Because, Mr. Aiber, you are a con man who is very good at what he does. As well as a bisexual sex addict, thus mounting anything that breathes. And I do not have relations with coworkers or potential coworkers. In fact, I do not date at all."_

"_A pretty thing like you? What a waste."_

"_Empty, untruthful complements will not change my mind. Expect our call. We have much to discuss. Beginning with your addiction. I foresee problems in the future if we do not deal with it."_

"_But-"_

"_Good day Mr. Aiber."_

_The screen quickly moved out the door and crossed the restaurant. If it was possible L was attracting more stares than before. Raito even caught sight of the man who'd burst into the bathroom previously. He seemed to cover his face and sink into his chair. His date kept questioning if he was all right._

_When L reached the reception desk he stopped. The screen focused on the snobby waiter, long nose in the air._

"_The gentleman who sat with me has agreed to pay for all the expenses tonight. Please give him the check when he wanders out of the restroom," L said in his normal monotone, dropping his earlier act completely. The waiter looked startled but before he could open his mouth, L was out the door._

_Soon, L was in the car he'd been in when all of this started. Watari turned to him with relief written all over his wrinkles. _

"_I take it went well?"_

"…_Yes. Now we must set up the tests for Mr. Aiber's loyalty. Let's go, Watari. I really am uncomfortable in these clothes, and have maxed out all my social tolerance in one night. All I want to do now is shower, put on my normal attire and have a slice or five of cheesecake. And possibly, not to deal with society in general anymore…"_

_Watari smiled, turned, and started the car. "Well, L, I can get your first three demands but that last one will just not be possible."_

_L sighed. "Yes, I was afraid you were going to say that…"_

Raito pulled out of the bubble with mixed feelings. The outcome was more pleasing (and amusing) than he'd thought it would be. Even with the many parts in which he'd felt like tearing innocent puppies to shreds. He had felt an awful lot of jealousy and possessiveness. It was unnerving.

More and more the term 'crush' didn't quite cover what he was feeling. But Raito would rather not think of other words that might describe what he felt, as was his sentiment. He just wasn't ready for that commitment yet.

He shrugged. At the moment he couldn't be bothered to launch himself into a nature-seeking, eye-opening inner monologue. It would have to wait for a more opportune moment. The prospect on his hands was too big to be wasted on something that could be done another time. He scanned the area quickly to make sure he knew where everyone was. Logic and Reason especially.

He moved rapidly. As he did he couldn't help but think of ways to ether torture Aiber subtly or dig for his feelings. He heard the man had a family, but still… A rather large leap from sex addict…

A monitor grabbed his attention soon, and all thoughts of sex and jealousy were forgotten (…well, maybe not really sex. He _was _a teenaged boy…)

_L was shuffling through folders with small hands that strangely enough had bandages around them. Raito was trying to discover L's age through his hands. _

_The detective was reading profiles, screen focused on the words on paper (which Raito could only guess were Russian) when a door squeaked open and the roll of wheels on a carpet was heard._

"_Thank you Watari," L said without lifting his eyes from the pages he was reading. Raito couldn't tell what it was since it really had to be Russian. _

_More scuffling. "L, may I speak with you?"_

"_Of course Watari. You may always speak with me. In fact, you are doing so right now."_

_Pause. L flipped through more papers. _

"_Do you ever feel lonely?"_

_L's hands froze. Slowly the screen turned to the side. Watari was placing an arrangement of deserts on the coffee table, eyes focused on the table._

"…_Lonely? What do you mean by lonely? How could I be lonely, Watari, when I have you?"_

_The old man's face broke into a soft smile. The corner of his eyes folded over with excess skin. "Yes. Yes, you do. And I will always be at your side." His smile disappeared and he turned to L. "But I won't be here forever, my boy. As you can see I'm old, and am only getting older. I would never leave you willingly, but life does not do old men like me favors…"_

_The screen turned back to the files at hand. "I understand Watari. That is why you shall live forever."_

_Raito heard laughter, and more clinking. _

"_Well then. Let's say I do live forever and stay by your side. L, you do realize you are almost sixteen now, and going through puberty-"_

"_I am? Well then, that explains why my voice has gone down so many octaves and I have hair where before it was non-existent." The screen switched to the computer._

"_L! Do not smart mouth me!"_

"_I'm sorry Watari. I just do not see where you are going with this conversation, and I am trying to concentrate on this case. I'm still trying to gain a good reputation worldwide."_

_A sigh. "L, what I'm trying to get at is that even though you will always have me for as long as I exist, there are just some things I can not do, or satisfy, for you that others your age… can…"_

_L's hands stopped typing at the computer. The screen slowly moved back to Watari who had finished unloading his cart. He was now looking expectantly at the young detective._

"_Excuse me? Watari, are you implying I look for a… significant other…?"_

"…_Yes."_

"_You want me to try and commence a relationship?"_

"…_Yes."_

"…Why_?"_

"_Because I want you to be happy. And solving cases for the rest of your life may be entertaining but it won't be satisfying your every need."_

"_You don't know that."_

"_Oh L, I do. I never knew how lonely I was until I met Emily. She was the light of my life. L, I only wish for you to find your own light."_

"… _People are hurtful. Relationships are awkward. And 77.9% of the time they end in disaster, heartbreak, and bitterness. Love is nothing but a combination of chemicals in the brain and pheromones. It is nothing but… a setback. A distraction. If anything it will hinder me, not help me." The screen moved down to focus on hands that gripped pointed knees._

"_L…"_

"_Besides, look at me Watari. I am not what society deems to be 'dating material'… most importantly, why are we even having this conversation?"_

"_Because you are growing up, L, and you are human. No mater how much you try to cover that fact. You cannot hide from this. People get lonely and you are no exception. Don't put yourself down like that L!"_

"_That may be, but I do not feel lonely. I feel quite fine, in fact. I like how my life is. I like the way I turned out. Bringing someone else into it will only complicate things. I don't exactly fit into people's expectations of what they want in their 'special' someone. And even if I did, what tools to attract a partner do I have? My devilishly good looks? My amazing social grace? Or how about my charming personality?" he snorted, voice dripping with sarcasm._

"_Really now, L. You are being ridiculous. It is true, that for the most part it is hard for you to get along with people. But it is understandable with what you have been through. You just have to find someone who will understand that. The world is a very big place. You should not dismiss the possibility of a partner."_

"_All right Watari. For all intents and purposes let's say that I _do_ have the ability to attract a mate without having to throw money at them or tie them down. Let's say they like me for… the person I am… what makes you think that _I_ will be attracted to _them_? It is not only my charm that pushes people away. Quite frankly, there is hardly anyone who can hold my attention. Because of my IQ and job, people are just not… interesting."_

"_You will find someone that captures your attention. You will find someone who shares your interests. And in relation to IQ, well, I know of a house filled with quite a few little geniuses. There are people with high intelligence out there. All you have to do is look."_

"_Yes, but if I do find someone I hope they will be 18 years old or over," L seemed to say more to himself then Watari._

"_L, in the end you are just listing excuses. Why is it so hard to see yourself in a relationship?"_

"_Because it is! How can I find myself attracted to creatures that-that do things like these?" The screen turned to show L's hands grabbing files and throwing them over at Watari. "All the people in whom I find any interest are criminals! How can I find a partner when I can't overcome the thoughts of gore? To know that underneath it all every person has the ability to do something like that? I try; I do, to believe there is good in people! But they just do not cooperate!"_

"_This is the whole point L! This just reinforces my point of being reluctant to let you solve cases at such an age! I never thought it would affect you so deeply! How can you be a good detective if all you see is what is evil in humanity? You have to see it as a whole. People can have just as much good as they have evil. You can't use that as an excuse, L! Stop trying to find excuses!"_

"_I'm not!"_

"_L! I know you are lonely! I heard you last night! You are becoming depressed again aren't you!"_

_The screen turned harshly to the side. "No. And you must be imagining things. Nothing happened last night."_

"_I'm old but not senile L! You were sobbing. You like one of the officers, don't you?"_

"_No!"_

"_You just don't know how to approach them."_

"_No! No Watari! I don't like anyone. Why won't you believe me?" _

"_Because you are lying! Why can't you come to terms with it?"_

"_Why can't you come to terms with the fact that I am just not fit to have meaningful relationships like love or friendship?"_

_Watari let out a frustrated huff, bringing both hands to tug at very apparent white hair. "You're so stubborn! You can't speak like that! You know what? You're right L! I'm sorry I brought this up in the first place. You obviously have your mind made up!" He let out another huff and turned on his heel, walking briskly out of the room._

_L sighed, the screen tilting back to focus on the ceiling. It stayed like that for a while, before moving to the table lined with sweets. The screen moved over to it until L's hands could be seen cutting rapidly into the cake. He then stabbed the fork rather violently into the slice. This went on at the same pace until the slice was almost gone at an alarming speed. _

_Raito was beginning to feel awkward, wondering if the memory was over and if he should pull out right about now. He was beginning to thing he should when there was a clatter. L had thrown the empty plate harshly on the table. The screen moved down until a _thump_ was heard of L's forehead hitting his knees._

_Then the screen shot up and began to move. First the door of the office was opened. Down a hall. More doors were opened with only flashes of the room visible before they were closed again. Clinking of pots and pans could be heard and soon the screen faced a kitchen. Watari's back was to the door. The man was scrubbing dishes with more force than necessary._

"…_Watari." L's voice was small; almost shy. Like a kid who'd been scolded (and for all intents and purposes he had been…)_

_No reply. Just harsher scrubbing._

"_Watari?"_

_Nothing_

_Hesitantly, L whispered, "I-I'm…I'm sorry…"_

_The pot fell into the sink with a loud, echoing noise. Watari leaned heavily onto the counter. "I know L. I am sorry as well. I shouldn't have pushed you the way I did. I know you have trouble forming relationships with people. Of any kind. I… it's just…"_

"_You do not want me to be alone."_

_Watari nodded his head. "But I won't force you to do something you are not willing to do."_

"_Thank you, Watari."_

_The old man sighed and waved him off. "Sometimes I don't know what to do with you. I really don't. You are such a difficult child. Maybe I am not fit to be a parent after all. Maybe that is why Emily and I were never able to have children…" Watari turned away, going back to scrubbing viciously at the pans._

_A small hand grabbed at the tails of the old man's suit. "You _**are**_ a good parent! You are! I'm sorry! Don't think like that!" He sounded so scared; so nervous - like he was expecting to be abandoned._

_Aware that the boy was beginning to panic, the man quickly placed his hands affectionately on the boy's shoulders. When that didn't quite work he brought the other closer in a comforting embrace. "It's all right. You don't have to panic. I won't leave you."_

"_I'm not panicking…" came a muffled reply. The screen was pressed up against the older man's shirt._

_Watari just shushed him. _

"_I'm not…" Thin hands clutched the shirt more tightly._

There was a tap on Raito's shoulder that made him jump, so great was his intensity of focus on what was happening on the screen. He turned to see Happiness there, smiling, like it was carved on his face. And since it was Happiness, maybe it was.

"Whatch'ya watching?"

Wasn't it obvious? The teen pointed to the screen. The other looked at it and his face twitched. It was like another emotion flashed by it in the time span of a millisecond. But it was so quick it only came out as a facial twitch. He then turned to Raito again, smile a little more forced.

"I remember that day! Well, that would be expected, wouldn't it? It's a memory for that reason…" -insert nervous laugh here- "Uhhhh, what do you think?"

Raito blinked - was he asking for his opinion on the memory? "I'm not quite sure how to answer that." Should he really say what he was thinking?

"Heehee… I don't know. Trying to start up conversation, I guess. Just for the hell of it. Heehee." Happiness laughed again, slightly high pitched. Raito lifted an eyebrow. Was he… nervous? Honestly nervous?

He was probably having second thoughts. Maybe the heavy mood hanging around Paranoia, Fear and the twins was influencing the other emotions. They were probably second-guessing this idea. It didn't help that neither Raito nor the task force were looking for the missing emotion. He could see Aizawa standing close by. For a moment he had the urge to go see what interested the man but turned to Happiness instead.

"Are you feeling all right? You seem a bit… lost."

"Me! Oh no! I'm fine, I'm fine. Uh, could we go over there?" He started to pull Raito more to the middle of the corridor, away from the screened memories.

Happiness coughed when Raito pinned him with a look. "Okay, so I'm getting a little anxious here. Can you blame me? Not the emotion of the most trusting person here. It doesn't help that I was sitting close to Paranoia all this time as he painted a very vivid, horrible way of how all this could end up…"

"...By us seeing your memories?"

"Everything! All branching out from this. I know I shouldn't let him influence me like this but, but I can't help it! I am L; paranoia is a very big part of us…"

Raito wasn't sure what he should say to that. The personality did actually seem worried, which clashed enormously with his laid-back nature. The teen debated what he should do. Should he calm the other down? He'd better or that could stop them from going forward.

However when he was about to turn on his charm to smooth over the jittery Happiness, Sadness and Courage popped up.

"YO! What are you two talking about?"

"…nothing."

"Really? So why are 'ya biting your thumb?" Happiness abruptly removed his thumb from between his teeth.

"Come on dude, let's go over there. Paranoia is turning you into a cocktail of runaway emotions and shot down nerves. See what I did here? I made an ironic analogy! Because you are an emotion! And your emotions are on the loose! HAHAHA! I'm so smart!" Courage pulled the jumpy Happiness away as he laughed at his own humor. Happiness looked back worriedly at Raito.

It made him feel guilty, though he didn't know why. It's not like he was going to use the information he found here against L.

…

Sadness suddenly appeared right in front of him. With all that sideshow happening there he had forgotten the other was there as well.

"Find anything of interest?"

"Uh, well, yes, I guess."

Sadness turned his head to the side. His face looked more drooped than what the teen remembered. He was expecting for something to happen - for the personality to start a conversation or for it to try and stop him from going away. But he just stood there. Just stood there, fighting against gravity to just stand up.

"…Do you wish for something from me? Are you not going to stop me or argue with me?"

"No."

"So do something! I can see the others are starting to cave into suspicion."

Sadness's eyes hooded so much that they might as well have been closed. He then made a move to walk away but stopped next to Raito. Shoulder to shoulder, each turned in opposite directions, neither of them spoke for a moment.

"We, as a person, have been through a fair amount of hardship," Sadness finally began. "Things that luckily you, Raito, have not had to go through. You take many things in your life for granted that I have spent nights wishing I could have. I will not stop you from looking into our past life. Not because I trust you. For there is a monster living in your subconscious which I cannot ignore, and soon neither will you. What I can hope for is that the things you see here will bring some light into your blind views. You might learn something. Perhaps give you more insight than what you wished to find. It might not be life-changing facts or view-shattering insight. But if it manages to hit you just enough to make you hesitate before you shout your opinion pieced from a sheltered life, it might be worthwhile."

They started to walk but paused. Raito didn't dare look back. "Or possibly, I just wish to share myself with someone, anyone, to make sure that at the end of my life, I'll be able to be remembered as a person and not just a letter."

And he walked away.

Raito stood where he was; frozen in place, though his body felt hot. No thoughts were in his mind but the echo of the words he'd just heard.

He felt like pulling to the side and just letting all he'd learned hit him like a skydiver with a malfunctioning parachute. Like he should actually sit and chew over this whole experience because he now felt he was letting so much slip through the cracks.

He closed his eyes. But more than anything he just wanted to move forward. For he felt like whatever realization he would have, he would like to have it when this whole experience was _over_ and there was no one there to distract him or influence him.

So he did just that. He walked to the closest monitor and willed his brain to start thinking again. To push back whatever was trying to break free and rampage his brain.

_What was on the screen was a room. Well, more like half a room. The other half was what looked to be a wall - Raito could only guess that L was at a doorway looking in, but with only half of his face doing so._

_The room looked like it either belonged to a very poor hospital or some sort of institute that was trying to keep their sicker children healthy by getting hospital equipment. But not possessing enough money to do so._

_The room overall was plain. And White. Plain and white. It had a very large window directly opposite from the door L was standing at. The view was not all that exciting either: a few building tops and a dull gray sky. The floor had a lot of exposed wires, which was what gave the room the 'not quite up to standard' look. The most recognizable objects were the heart monitor and the IV. The bed was ratty with not all that sterile-looking blankets, and on the bedside table there drooped wilting sunflowers. Gone from a bright yellow to a not-so-cheerful beige._

_The teen on the bed was the most uplifting thing in the room. Though that wasn't saying much. It was a boy, most likely between thirteen and fifteen. The boy seemed be an unhealthy shade of grayish-yellow, with thick brown curly hair that seemed to be as droopy as its owner._

_He was propped up on the bed with what had to be a sketchbook on his bent legs. He seemed very concentrated._

"_You can come in, you know. I don't bite." The boy's voice was warm and friendly, lively even, contrary to his sickly appearance._

_The screen jumped before only the wall was seen. L was hiding._

_There was a dry chuckle. "You don't have to hide. I know you're there. You have to work on your sneaking skills to deceive me little guy."_

_L, knowing he was caught, walked into the room. The screen stayed focused on the floor. Small bare feet stepped carefully over wires._

"_Hello there. My name is Alan." The screen moved up shyly. Alan was smiling at him. He had very dark green eyes. His face, even though very pale-yellowish, was kind. He looked like the type of child who went through a lot in his life at a very young age; becoming gentler and wise beyond his years._

_L didn't say anything. Alan smiled (it looked rather exhausted) and laughed his dry laugh. "I got myself a real talker here, don't I? It's all right, you can stay as long as you like. I enjoy the company. Not many of the children here want to come into this room anyway."_

_L didn't say anything but got closer to the bed. The screen focused on the sketchbook._

"_Ahhh, you're only interested in me because of this? Is that right? I must say I'm disappointed but not surprised…" Alan picked up the book and handed it to L. He hesitated to take the book, but after an encouraging nod from Alan, he took it. The page he was working on was of the wilting sunflowers. And though it wouldn't be acclaimed as a masterpiece, it was a very nice drawing._

_L flipped through some more pages. Some were of cartoony-looking people, other were of places, things, and some couldn't even be identified at all. L stopped at one of the unidentifiable pages. It looked like a lot of blotches on paper and scribbles if you asked Raito._

"_Do you like it?"_

_The sketch look like it was turned one way and the other. Then the book was turned upside down. The teen laughed again. "Everyone's a critic!" He took the book out of L's hands. "You don't look at it with your eyes, you look at it with your feelings." _

"…_That's silly."_

"_Ah-ha! He speaks!" The boy looked kindly at L. "I knew it! And no, it's not silly. You just want to see it differently from the way everybody else sees it." The boy coughed a bit. "Excuse me."_

_L's tiny hands took the book again. And again he twisted it around, still not seeing it. Tell you the truth, Raito didn't either._

"_Nothing?" The screen moved from side to side._

"_Okay, let's try it this way. What do you feel like when you see blue?"_

"… _It's blue. A color. Why should I feel anything?"_

_The boy sighed, but still smiled gently. "You are going to be difficult aren't you?"_

"_Bu-"_

"_Well, you know what I feel when I see blue?"_

"…_?"_

"_I feel happy. No, that's not quite right… I feel calm, serene. Do you know what serene means?" A nod. "Wow, you're smart… how old are you?"_

_Two small hands came up and showed 7 fingers. _

"_Really? You're short for your age… skinny, too. You should look after your health, you know." Ironically, he coughed at that very moment. It was raspy and seemed harsher than the first. "Excuse me."_

"_But why do you feel calm? It's blue."_

"_Don't different colors make you feel differently? Maybe blue isn't soothing to you. Come on, I know you feel something. Like the sunflowers on my bedside, why do you think they are there?"_

"… _Because you are fond of that particular flower? Or perhaps a nurse or an admirer gave it to you?"_

_The boy looked taken aback with little L's choice of words, as well as his reasoning. Then he laughed. Threw back his head and laughed. He was laughing so hard he began to cough. A strong cough that made his entire body shake, but the only thing that stopped L from panicking (and Raito as well) was the ghost of a smile on the boy's lips._

_L quickly handed him some water from the jug next to the flowers. The other accepted it gratefully. Soon the coughing subsided. Only heavy breathing was in the room._

"_I'm sorry. I haven't laughed like that for months. My body probably has forgotten how to do it properly." He smiled kindly, but his lips were redder. So was his face. It almost looked like he had blood on them…_

"_Maybe I should go…"_

"_No! Please don't. I'm sorry, I did not mean to insult you or frighten you. It's just… you're very young, you know. You shouldn't say things like that! Just stay, please?"_

"…_Okay."_

"_Thank you."_

_The teen lied back on the bed, still breathing heavily._

"_Are you positive you're all right?"_

"_I'm going to be. Why don't you open the window for me? Have some fresh air in this stuffy old room."_

_The screen moved closer to the open window. The sky was still a gloomy gray but Raito could see the sun struggling to get through the clouds. _

_It seemed to the third floor they were on. And not too far away Raito got a glimpse of a church's bell tower._

_L turned back to Alan when a very loud ringing was heard. It forced Alan to cover his ears. L probably did it too. Hell, even Raito was covering his ears when his bubble was filled with such a noise._

_When the bell finished ringing and the boys uncovered their ears, Alan asked, "Can you tell me why they're ringing?" _

_At first Raito wasn't quite sure what the boy meant. The ringing in his ears, maybe? (Raito's sure were ringing.) _

_But when the screen moved again to the window, just between the buildings, where you could barely see, there were two figures: one in white, the other in black. They came rushing out of what Raito had said was the church._

"_It's a wedding."_

"_Oh, thank goodness. There have been too many deaths this month. I was beginning to feel the effects of the vibrations. It's so nice to know someone found happiness."_

"_What do you feel when you see white?"_

_The teen lifted his head up and looked at L. He smiled his weak smile. "White… white is a difficult color. It can mean exactly the opposite to the other depending on the way you look at it. If you look at it as light, it is all the colors in one ray, it's all the colors. While if you see it as paint it is the absence of colors."_

"_But you didn't answer my question."_

"_I guess I didn't… I think what I'm trying to say is, it is very ambiguous and it depends on the person. If you ask me, white is a color that can be anything yet it doesn't know which one to be."_

"_That's a strange answer, if you could call it an answer at all…"_

_He laughed. "Well, it's plain, simple, yet has the potential to be whatever it wants. White is a color waiting to happen. A paper waiting to be drawn on. White is all but nothing at the same time, it all depends on the person looking at it. What do you think of white?"_

"_I like white."_

"_Oh? You like a color? Yet you feel nothing when you see them?"_

"_I just like white."_

"_There has to be a reason for it, no?" The teen coughed again. This time it sounded like he was hacking out a lung. He gasped for breath between breaks. But something was very wrong this time. _

_Now he had one arm around his middle and another covering his mouth. He continued to cough to the point where red liquid was coming out from between his fingers._

_Blood. He was coughing up blood._

_The machines began to beep. The heart monitor went insane, beeping out of control. L had no idea what to do. The screen moved from one side to the other. When it began to move to the door a group of people rushed in. Three women and a man. One of the women saw L there and quickly rushed him out. The door then slammed shut. And all left on-screen was that door with the white paint chipping off. _

Raito had an overwhelming wish to see what happened to the young boy. But when he saw L's small hand place itself on the closed door, he dreaded that the boy most likely did not survive. Maybe he lived a bit longer, but what he looked to have seemed terminal.

Most likely liver failure by the color of his skin. Raito took a guess at lung cancer from the blood he'd coughed. Even if it had a treatment, wherever the boy was, it didn't look like it could do more than what it was doing.

Raito swallowed thickly. L did go through things a child should not have to go through. No wonder the man had such a hard time in social situations. He never had lasting healthy relationships with people his own age. And from what Raito was seeing so far any people he did connect to most likely abandoned him. Willingly or unwillingly.

It actually made him annoyed with himself for not making connections with people when he so easily could. But amazingly, whatever connection he made with others disappeared quickly. People were just not worthy of his time…

Well, most of them were not…

Was he really that indifferent? Did he really think that, that companionship was an unworthy waste of time? This was starting to get to him. A realization that maybe there was something wrong with him at some level. Something very wrong, and it was starting to show.

Maybe having feelings for L was a good thing. It showed he was capable of actually taking interest in others in something that was not purely for self-gain. That he was capable of caring for another in a roma-

He stopped himself. That was going a little far… but it was roman- romantic. Wasn't it?

There was a sudden loud wail. It made Raito swivel around to see what the hell was going on. He turned to see what it was that made such a noise, to find Matsuda hand covering his mouth as he watched something on his monitor. The man was crying, he was honestly crying real tears.

Raito wasn't sure if he should be suspired at the sight, or surprised that he was surprised at seeing Matsuda cry.

The wail did attract most of the attention of the others. All of the task force rushed over to him, as well as some personalities. Raito started to move to Matsuda, more out of curiosity than actual concern.

Then he stopped. He didn't feel concern? Well not really; Matsuda was 'sensitive', so his crying wasn't a cause of alarm. Yet… Raito felt like he should be concerned. His indifference had never bothered him before, but now… Now it was beginning to. Mostly for the things his indifference implied.

Matsuda was sniffing rather dramatically. Raito grinned. This was going to be fun.


End file.
